


Rectifications

by ThymeSprite



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Doctors & Physicians, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Home, Rescue Missions, Revenge, Sappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:45:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThymeSprite/pseuds/ThymeSprite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Khan is reawoken...again. The cruelty of fate forces him to comply with rules he hates, but an unexpected turn makes him see that there is even more cruelty beneath the already rotten surface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awoken...again

Cold. A coldness so harsh and impenetrable it numbed the mind and froze all thought in place. Yet he knew this chill, knew that he had felt it before.

It was not what he wanted, this thought reached through the frost to the conscious part of his mind, yet he could not remember the reason for this resentment of it.

When he understood, it was too late. He was reawakened…again.

Rage shot through Khan and shook off the last numbness of his mind. Within an instant, he had jumped out of the cryo-tank in which he had been frozen, and his still ice-cold hand mercilessly grabbed the throat of the woman standing next to him. She gasped, fear in her eyes, but he just did not care in the slightest. Growling with fury, Khan shoved her against the wall in her back and ignored the screams around him, ignored the calls of securities to let her go. Instead, he asked, his voice harsh and raspy from his long sleep: “Why?”

Her eyes widened in fear and she clutched at his hand, effortlessly of course. A quick glance told Khan that he was in a laboratory, but the reason for it all eluded him.

“Why?”, he repeated his question and dug his fingers into the soft flesh of her neck, already felt his fingernails sink into skin, felt blood at his fingertips, and the woman in his grip thrashed with fading strength, trying hard to gasp, but almost choking.

“Put her down, now!”, a guard behind him cried.

Angrily Khan threw the scientist aside, heard the metallic clink as her head collided with the lab-bench, but he indifferently turned to face them all. The heavily armoured and armed securities winced and took a step back, an action that would almost have made Khan grin for they withdrew in fear at the sight of him, unarmed, still lethargic from his long sleep and naked. Yes, he would have laughed at them, but he was furious.

Looking around, he found two armed guards, but they posed no threat, and neither did the team of scientists nor the equipment Starfleet had also used when they had awoken him the first time…he even was in the same laboratory. And just as back then, there were no other pods, so he had no idea about the welfare of his crew. Just like the first time.

“Take me to your superior.”, Khan demanded, but no one acted, so he cocked his head and asked, “Or do you want me to find him myself?”

The unspoken threat in his words finally jerked one of them out of his lethargy and he shook his head as he tried hard to mutter words. Pathetic.

“N-no, Sir.”, the scientist said and Khan looked at him. That was the moment in which he realised that this man had already been there when he had been woken the first time. His anger welled up again in his chest, but he calmed it with a steady breath just enough to keep it boiling beneath the surface, but to not give it away.

“I will take you to Admiral Hanson immediately. Just… maybe you should, um…”

Khan did not honour his stammering with a question, but merely arched an eyebrow.

“Dress first?”, the scientist meekly asked and offered him dark clothes. Khan slipped them on without any care for them, then turned to the scientist again and silently demanded to see this Admiral Hanson now. The elderly man cleared his throat and pointed to the woman Khan had thrown aside, before he sharply ordered: “Somebody help her.”

Interesting. So this man, who had been merely an assistant when they had first torn him from his blissfully silent sleep was now in charge obviously. But he had not aged significantly, so only a short period of time could have passed.

Why had he been awoken again? Khan could not understand it, but his answers lay with this Admiral, so he would tag along. For now.

“Please, come over her.”, the scientist said and he glanced at the name tag that identified him as Dr. Strauss. Khan followed him out of the laboratory, but then Strauss changed direction and instead of walking directly to the elevator Khan knew, he took a different route. They passed only closed doors, offices he assumed, and Khan’s instincts told him that this would be a perfect place for an ambush. But if they were indeed foolish enough to ambush him, they would have been well advised to take him on in his sleep. Now that he was awake, they stood no chance.

And apparently they knew, because the few guards they met during their way ever deeper into the maze of laboratories Khan mapped in his mind, they all stepped out of their way and let them pass with nothing more than a wary glance. He was in no danger whatsoever, but he grew tired and angry of this charade. However, Khan stayed silent and decided to watch. They had to have a very good reason to wake him from his slumber and by now they had in fact made him slightly curious.

So he was even more annoyed when Strauss took an absolutely unnecessary turn.

“You are backtracking.”, he told the scientist who tried hard to hide his fright, but still it showed; he could felt the bitter taste of fear on his tongue, smelled its stench.

“W-we have to.”, Strauss justified this action, “You are not to be seen by anyone except those who are already informed.”

Now that was an interesting point. Khan gave the scientist a sideward glance and saw him wipe sweat from his balding head as he returned the look and said warily: “You know…some won’t like the fact that you are back.”

Oh, he knew. He was one of them.

Yet he said nothing of that sort, instead he commented snidely: “Then it seems a waste of effort to take me along all these corridors. Even more so, it is against your own advice.”

“Not really.”, Strauss muttered, but instead of explaining, he now took a turn into a part of the laboratory they had not been in before and finally Khan saw an elevator, but this one was different from the ones he knew from this building.

“It’s a goods lift. Not that comfy, but alright.”, Strauss cheerfully spoke to hide his nervousness and as the doors slid open, Khan stepped inside without hesitation. He was still angry, but his curiosity – and his concern for his crew – made him endure this nuisance.

The only remarkable difference between this goods lift and the elevator he had once ridden that Khan could make out was the carelessness with which this elevator was used and cleaned, if it was cleaned at all. Strauss entered after him and then leaned out again to turn a key. He quickly, but clumsily snatched it out of the lock again and was inside the elevator before the doors closed.

“See? Less comfy.”, he then told Khan who did his best to ignore him, not willing to have the pointless conversation the old scientist was trying to start. As the elevator came to a halt and slid open, Khan exited the cabin, only to be confronted with a whole of three guns trained at him.

Wearily, he rolled his eyes and glanced over to the highly-decorated officer sitting at the table behind the guards.

“Admiral Hanson, I presume?”, he asked in calm, yet mocking courtliness, “Would you have the courtesy to remove your brutes?”

“You heard the man.”, the Admiral nodded and swiftly, yet clearly reluctantly, the guns were lowered and his way to his host was cleared.

“I am very sorry for…”, the Admiral began, but Khan sharply cut him off, “Let us skip the courtesies, shall we? Why did you bring me here?”

He heard the whirring of a phaser behind him, but ignored the meek threat of it.

“As I said.”, Admiral Hanson repeated in irritation, “I am very sorry to bring you here, but there is a grave reason for this.”

Of course there was.

“Do you have outright war with the Klingons already?”, Khan asked without any honest interest, but was surprised when the answer he got was the shake of a head, “Perish the thought. No, it is a matter that affects us as well as you. And your crew.”

Alarmed, Khan watched the man in front of him, who then merely pointed to a door off the side and almost tonelessly said: “See for yourself.”

He forcefully ignored the dark sense of foreboding that crept up his spine, but it grew stronger as he entered the next room…and saw a single pod standing there.

“My condolences.”, the Admiral said and Khan’s stomach churned as he understood. A long step took him to the pod, now warm and out of order…dead.

“Ling.”, Khan exhaled and closed his eyes after he had seen the familiar face. She was a beautiful woman, even in death and his hand rested on the glass panel of the pod, not able to reach his friend. Not able to help…it was too late. He was too late.

“I am very sorry for your loss.”, Hanson beside him said and Khan gritted his teeth. This man knew nothing about his losses, his sacrifices. So the one-worded question he asked came out as a growl: “How?”

“Unfortunately, we do not know.”, he got for an answer and raging with fury, he spun around to stare the Admiral down. Strauss, who had not said a single word, flinched and backed away, but Hanson stood his ground, his arms confidently crossed behind his back as he explained: “All 73 pods, including yours and Ms. Ling’s, have been monitored ever since they had been returned to Starfleet after the incident with Admiral Marcus.”

He thought “incident” an unbefitting periphrasis of what had actually occurred, but Khan’s thoughts were with Ling. And also with the rest of his crew, for he still did not know what had happened to her.

“Two days ago, one of the pods showed a malfunction. Suddenly, it thawed.”, Hanson explained and Khan felt a painful pang in his chest, “It was no longer fit to keep Ms. Ling alive and so she…expired. There was nothing we could have done to prevent this.”

His grief mingled with anger again for there just had to have been at least something they could have done to save her, but he should have known that humans and Starfleet in particular would not be able to take care of his people.

“Our engineers have not yet been able to find the defective part of the cryo-tank.”, Hanson added and Khan knew exactly what this meant, so he gritted his teeth against the rush of concern, “We do not know what killed her and it could happen to others as well. Anytime.”

“There has to be something…!”, Khan began, but as the Admiral nodded, obviously pleased with this reaction, he knew that he had made a terrible mistake. So he added more calmly, yet determinedly: “Let me examine the pods.”

His knowledge of the system would at least give him an idea where the fault had to lie, but Hanson shook his head and said: “You’re welcome to take a lot at this one, but it will not tell you that much, the circuit boards are all charred.”

“Then let me see the others.”, Khan demanded, but he knew the Admiral’s answer before he heard it, “Unfortunately, I cannot allow this.”

He narrowed his eyes at the officer who sighed in sympathy that Khan knew was mocking him, then he explained: “All the pods have been brought to a specialised station that will be able to keep them save even if the cryo-tanks should fail. But this station was not prepared for so much…new cargo. It is only a temporary solution.”

“Meaning?”, Khan growled, but knew anyway; if his crew grew inconvenient for Starfleet, they would be left for dead.

Not showing this undeniable truth in his calm face, Hanson told him: “Unfortunately, we were not able to save Ms. Ling, but there is a course of actions we can take to keep the rest of your crew save until we find the source of the malfunction. But we will need your help for this.”

Finally, they were coming to the part that involved him. Khan stayed silent, but listened as Admiral Hanson told him: “Our engineers have been unable to find any flaw in the pods, but there is a scientist who can accomplish this, an expert in cryo-engineering.”

“Where is he?”, he asked, for clearly they had misplaced their precious specialist if no one was working on the pods already…or they were blackmailing him. And suddenly, it dawned upon him: They would use his crew and his affection for them against him…again.

“She is a deserter.”, Hanson replied and for the first time, Khan was actually surprised, “Dr. Eileen Morton was with Starfleet for more than seven years, but a month ago, she fled service and is in hiding since then.”

“Retrieve her, then.”, Khan demanded as his anger got the better of him, for he immediately regretted having spoken these words.

“This is where you come in.”, Hanson said as expected, “She fled to one of the fragments left from Praxis, the sole moon of Qo’noS. To the best of our knowledge, a group of fugitives has taken refuge there, protected by the fact that the Klingons are not far off and that they are no threat to them, so the Klingons ignore this settlement. For now, but still we have to find those criminals, especially Dr. Morton. With the threat of open war against the Klingons, we cannot go there to save your crew who we swore to protect. But you can.”

Wearily, Khan closed his eyes. Of course, this was what they wanted, he was supposed to do their dirty work in exchange for the only thing they could blackmail him with. And had it not been for his crew, he would have refused, killed the guards within an instant, spared the Admiral only to tell the tale heavily injured and would have fled to collect his thoughts. But this…was different.

Grief, sudden and sharp in its intensity, almost made him choke as he looked down at Ling’s face again. On its own accord, his hand went to the glass panel again and his fingers spread over the familiar face, the closed eyes he would never again be able to look into.

“I will find your deserter.”, he accepted the mission Admiral Hanson had lain before him.

“Good.”, the Starfleet officer nodded, but Khan interrupted him, his gaze fixed on Ling, “But on my terms. As you intentionally deprive me of the opportunity to examine the pods myself, I will retrieve the scientist you misplaced under the sole condition that she will find and repair the malfunction in all the cryo-tanks. Every single one of them. And after the safety of my crew is ensured, I will, too, be sent back to sleep.”

He had no intention of standing idly by when his crew was safe and he awake, but the Admiral did not have to know that.

“Your terms are accepted. Gladly so.”, was Hanson’s answer and the self-satisfaction in his statement disgusted Khan to no end.

“If she fails…”, he therefore began and finally looked at Hanson, “She is dead. You are dead.”

The Admiral cleared his throat, but then nodded slowly and spoke: “I can understand your anguish…”

“You know nothing about me.”, Khan snarled and although he already regretted having said this much, he went through with what he had to say, “Nor will you ever know.”

This took the officer by surprise and Khan demanded: “Show me the rest of my crew. I want to be sure they are safe.”

“Unfortunately, this is not possible.”, Admiral Hanson replied and Khan’s heart sank. Angrily, his eyes mere slits, he stared at Hanson, who explained: “As I told you, we shipped them to a specialised station to keep them in their cryo-sleep even if the pods should fail At least for a time, but we cannot guarantee their safety for longer periods of time. So Dr. Morton should be brought to your crew soon, as with the danger of a tank failing, there is no time to lose. After the tragedy with Ms. Ling, we thought this in your best interest. And in theirs.”

The worst part of this was that Khan could not even argue against this. So he only gave a sharp nod and said: “Give me the coordinates and a vessel. I will find your deserter.”

“Very well Bring Dr. Morton to us and we will bring you to your crew, Mr. Harrison.”, Hanson nodded, using his alias he had hoped never to have to use again. Then the Admiral gestured to one of his guards who then entered the room and said in bravado Khan saw right through, „If you’d follow me, Sir. I will take you to a small cruiser equipped with everything you’ll need for the journey.”

They had planned and prearranged it all. Khan shot an angry glance at Hanson, who merely nodded and just like that, the Admiral dismissed him. Rage boiled in him, but Khan turned back to look at Ling, at her body.  
Whatever his resentment against Starfleet, he had to do this for them. True, he had no proof that other pods would eventually malfunction, but they could. This – and a look at Ling’s pale cheeks – was enough to make him cast his demur aside and accept this mission that was imposed on him.

Bowing his head to the comrade he lost, to the friend, Khan bid his farewell and followed the guard without as much as another glance at either Hanson or Strauss.

All three guards accompanied him back to the goods lift and at the landing deck, two stayed with him, whilst the third advanced, obviously to create clear coast for his secret departure.

“All clear!”, he called back to them a few moments later and Khan was pointed to a cruiser. Efficient, inconspicuous and equipped with a little cargo bay that would soon be Dr. Morton’s abode.

“Here’s the coordinates and all the information you need about the delinquent.”, one of the guards told him and shoved a data pad against his chest, “Good riddance.”

A quick glance told Khan that they really were alone.

“Thank you.”, he said, placed the pad inside the ship…and spun around, hitting the guard who had just spoken square in his jaw. Two more well placed blows incapacitated the other two guards easily long enough to give Khan the time to smash the first one’s nasal bone into smithereens, just for good measure. As they were panting and groaning in pain, all lying on the floor, Khan wiped the blood off his hands, using the guard’s uniform and snarled at him: “This should have taught you something.”

Saying no more, he entered the transporter and prepared for take-off. He did not care whether or not the guards had had the opportunity to get themselves to safety before he opened the shuttle deck to the vast space. He had a scientist to find and his crew to save. His family.


	2. Unexpected turn

The way over to Praxis was long enough to give Khan the opportunity to carefully read the files he had been given concerning the woman he had been asked – forced – to capture. Unsure what in fact he had expected from a deserter, he had started to inspect the data he had been given and was nevertheless utterly surprised at what he found.

Dr. Eileen Morton’s picture was staring at him as soon as he had opened the dossier and he found himself going back to it then and again. A slim, nobly pale face adorned with blonde hair, almost silvery white, and falling in soft waves down to her shoulders. And her eyes… they were of a blue he had not seen in his life, not light, not dark, but a mixture of specks from every possible shade of blue. Or so it seemed to him.

Grunting in displeasure at having gone back to her portrait picture once again, Khan studied the information about her education and carrier once again. And he found that he was still impressed, somewhat. She was a physician, but that was not all. She had a doctor’s degree in medicine with an additional specialisation in non-human life forms, was an engineer of cryogenics… and a Doctor of English Literature, again with a specialisation, this time to the literature of the 20th century on Earth. In his opinion, Dr. Morton was hardly old enough for her title in medicine, let alone all the decorations she had. But this was of no concern to him. Or at least it should be.

“Estimated time of arrival at destination: Ten minutes.”, the computer informed Khan and he barely glanced at the interface to confirm this information before he returned to the data pad and the file in his hands. Again, her face caught his eye and Khan growled in displeased annoyance. There was no reason why he should find himself glancing at her eyes so often, but he did.

So he flicked the picture away and instead used the last remaining minutes of his journey to her destination to focus on the “special instructions” Admiral Hanson had left for him. Cocking his head, he read: “Do not talk to the fugitive Dr. Eileen Morton. She is armed and dangerous. Moreover, her knowledge of the human psyche in combination with her rhetorical skills makes her highly persuasive and not to be trusted. Do not talk to her, under no circumstances.”

Khan could not fight back a derisive snort. Did they expect him to falter because of sweet words and two blue eyes, fluttering their lashes? He cast the data pad aside when he heard a male voice ask in a neutral, down-to-business tone: “Unknown Sarajevo-type aircraft, identify. State your business at Aescus Station.”

Those fugitives had the nerve to pretend they owned the place and against his will, he was impressed. Nevertheless, he came prepared, for as much as he resented acknowledging it, Starfleet really had thought of everything he needed on this journey: “This is Umbellion speaking. I am back on my way to Earth after trading near Qo’noS. The Umbellion dropped out of warp and I request permission to land to locate and repair the damage.”

Silence followed, silence that distressed Khan because for once, they could probably distrust this explanation. Although this did not faze him much as he would simply land without their permission. No, the silence gave him time to think of how similar this phoney situation he had just described was to the grave danger in which his crew was…the danger that had already killed Ling.

“Permission granted.”, the operator told him and almost startled Khan from his thoughts. Then he proceeded down to Aescus Station, nestled into a crook on one of the fragments left of Praxis. Blinking markers showed him not only where to land his vessel, but also staked out the area in which they had managed to create some sort of atmosphere that allowed them to breathe.

He safely landed the cruiser in the lot furthest off the side, close enough to the entrance of the station. As soon as the “Umbellion’s” doors had opened, he stepped outside into a brisk and cold day, yet there was no wind, just as he had expected from an area with artificial atmosphere.

“Need any help, mate?”, someone greeted and Khan spotted the round man, a human, wiping his hands into a dirty towel as he laughed, “Cos I ain’t gonna help ya with that, crap looks way to complicated.”

“None needed, thank you.”, he replied and the mechanic pointed behind himself, “Grab the tools ya need, but put ‘em back save, will ya? If ya need any spare parts, let me know.”

“Thank you.”, he said again and staged a worried face as he turned back to his cruiser, just to win some time. He would certainly not walk around and ask openly for his prey, but he had to find her nonetheless. So out of a whim he asked: “You do not happen to have a Med-bay, do you?”

“Hit yer head?”, the elder man asked in concern and then nodded to the entrance, “In there, to the left, pass three doors, then in the next on the right. Ask for Ellie, she’s gonna take care of ya. Does so with all of us idiots.”

The mechanic grinned a toothless smirk, then shuffled away on his weak feet. If he wanted to find a doctor of medicine, he might as well start at their Med-bay, so Khan followed the directions and stepped into a crowded room, crowded not only by persons, but also by medical equipment that had long been past its best years.

“I’ll be with you right away! Just a sec.”, a female voice called to him and as Khan followed the sound, he saw her, Eileen Morton, stitching up a cut in a young man’s face.

“Next time, Jake, don’t piss off someone twice your size. You’re lucky he let you off the hook.”, she reprimanded the boy, but her stern voice was softened by her smile and the sparkle in her eyes.

“You should see him.”, the boy told her defiantly, “He looks a lot worse.”

“I guess he does.”, she replied with a smile and dismissed him with a nod, a sign the boy used to dash out of the Med-bay, so close past Khan that he felt a whiff of air pass him.

“But he only looks worse than you if he did so from the start…”, Dr. Morton mumbled, “He’s never going to change, is he?”

“You wouldn’t want him any other way.”, a nurse laughingly called from the other corner of the room in which she was handing a mechanic a bottle of pills.

“True.”, Dr. Morton chuckled and just as Khan was wondering whether this Jake could be related to her, her son or brother – although he had not read anything about a family in her dossier – she turned to him with a smile and asked, “So, stranger. I’m Ellie, what can I do for you?”

For a moment he hesitated, wondering if this woman with her fair hair, her naïve smile and cheery voice really could be that armed and oh so dangerous fugitive he had read about. But looks could be deceiving and so he decided to see for himself: “I just landed after my ship dropped out of warp. I wanted a quick checkup.”

“Yeah, warp-drop can be pretty nasty.”, she smiled and pointed him to a cot, the one Jake had just left, “Sit down, otherwise I won’t be able to examine your head.”

As he was just stalling for time to find out more about this woman and why she was a supposed dangerous criminal, Khan obeyed her request and sat down in front of the really short woman. Even so, she had to get to the tips of her toes as she tenderly touched his cheeks to bend his head down.

“Are you feeling anything funny?”, she enquired as she touched his head, searching for bruises or bumps and he had to admit that it was a strange feeling, being touched in this way, “Feeling sick, swaying while walking?”  
“No.”, he replied and she nodded, released her tender grip and asked, “Still, let me see your pupils, okay?”

Only as he had nodded his assent did she shine a bright light directly into his eyes and then announced with a warm smile: “You’re fine, but nevertheless I’d recommend strong coffee, or even better, go get some rest. Doctor’s orders. You look exhausted.”

And he was, but not from fatigue, but from worry…and confusion. This woman did not strike him as the criminal she had been described to him.

Suddenly, she frowned, but her frown was gone immediately and replaced by a smile, yet it did not feel the same way to him. Something had changed.

“Anything wrong, doctor?”, he asked and as she did not respond, he arched an eyebrow. At this she laughed, but it sounded nervous: “No, it’s just… For a second, I thought I knew you. But I guess you’ve just got one of those faces, you know? Let me run just another test real quick, okay? Will be back in a minute, you won’t have time to miss me.”

Saying this, she gave him a cheeky wink that felt odd in more than one respect and then turned. Khan’s eyes followed her to the far end of the room and while he was wondering why he had not long since snatched her and brought her aboard his cruiser by now, he saw her rummage through a supply crate and dart glances first at him, then a nurse. She got the hint and went over to Dr. Morton who then hissed something at her. His hearing was far better than any human’s, yet he had trouble to understand her words: “Get security down here. Now, Becky!”

The nurse glanced at him and Dr. Morton ushered her out, but then she turned to him as if nothing had happened and proceeded with the test she had announced: “Read this to me, then write it down, please. It’s just to test whether your coordination suffered in any way.”

Khan had no intention of waiting until the securities arrived. Quickly he stood up and was about to knock her out without giving her the opportunity to fight him…when there was a blast outside the Med-bay, the whirring of phasers.

“What the hell?”, one of the nurses cursed as all their heads turned to the door.

“Keep the patients safe!”, Dr. Morton bellowed an order, reached past Khan and more quickly than he had thought it possible for her, she too had a phaser in her hand and started for the door.

“Ellie!”, one of the nurses called and some of the patients shuffled to get out whilst the nurses tried to keep them back. Khan did not wait a second longer, he too ran out of the room, not willing to let his target get away…or worse, allow her to get herself killed.

He heard terrified screams and shouts of anger mingled into the telltale noises of fighting, phasers being fired, soldiers being wounded. He knew those sounds all too well. Right in the thick of it he saw Dr. Morton alongside guards of the Aescus Station, returning fire with not nearly the elegance of the raiders, but much more fierceness. Within an instant, Khan knew that the raiders were well organised and trained for combat, a fact that gave them an immense advantage.

Snatching up a weapon from a dead guard next to him, Khan fired a few well-aimed shots, killing three of the attackers, and simultaneously he moved closer to Dr. Morton.

“Who are they?”, she asked a guard, but the only answer she got was, “Dunno!”

Ducking behind a crate, Khan glanced at the raiders and within an instant, he knew perfectly well who they were. They had tried hard to conceal their true identity with rags for clothes, smudges of black paint on their faces and a newly painted vessel, but he nevertheless recognised some of their faces. They were with Starfleet. And this made no sense at all.

“Cease fire!”, one of the Starfleet raiders, an officer, as Khan knew solely from the arrogance in his voice, demanded, “Hand over the criminal you’re hiding and no one has to be hurt.”

“Whom are you kidding, son?”, one of the guards shouted back, but only words were shot at each other, no phasers bolts, as Dr. Morton chimed in: “I’m afraid you‘ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“Shush, Ellie.”, the guard next to her hissed, but she only grimaced at him and groaned, “I know him from back in training. That bastard isn’t even smart enough to find his own backside without help, how should he recognise me?”

“Lucky guess?”, the guard hissed, “Don’t take chances, lass.”

At this she nodded and Khan was impressed that she had understood who they were as quickly as he had, maybe even more quickly. She then perked her ears, as did everyone else when the Starfleet officer spoke again: “Show yourself, Harrison!”

This surprised him even more. They were here for him? This really did not make any sense at all.

“Damn.”, he heard Dr. Morton curse, “So it was him.”

“Whaddaya sayin’?”, one guard asked of her, but she only shook her head, yet Khan understood her perfectly well. She had recognised him, she knew the threat he posed, but still she had remained calm and had looked him straight in the eye. Remarkable, to say the least.

But it did not solve his problem that now Starfleet was between him and his target, a target they wanted, but obviously not as badly as they wanted him. Then why send him off to this station in the first place?

“Show yourself!”, the officer demanded again, “Or we will search for you, Harrison.”

“Think about it.”, Dr. Morton called back, “After all, it’s John Harrison we’re speaking of and looking for him would surely not please him. So, do you really want to do that?”

Smart, but useless, this much Khan knew and found his assumption confirmed when without a word of warning, the Starfleet officers opened fire again.

He heard the guards curse and then return fire, but he knew within an instant that they did not stand a chance, they were not outnumbered, but seriously outgunned.

“Stop this!”, Dr. Morton cried, but her voice was lost in the noise of fighting. Tactically, this was his best chance. Maybe even his only chance.

Khan darted out behind the crate and ran to the spot in which his target was hiding. On his way over to her, he fired another three shots and every single one hit home. The last one only wounded the officer who had spoken, however, Khan wanted him to survive, to live with the consequences of his actions. It would either make him a better, humbler man…or, if he was as weak as he thought, it would make his soul crumble. One way or the other, it was for the better.

“That’s him!”, one of the Starfleet raiders called out and within an instant, all of their phasers were trained on him, firing wildly and uncaring what or whom else they hit. And they were set to “kill”.

Right in front of him, a guard fell, hit by a misdirected phaser bolt, and he tumbled to the floor.

“Bernie, no!”, Dr. Morton called and tried to pull the body to her into cover.

“Back!”, Khan bellowed at her, and even though it was no use, he repeated his order, “Back!”

Still, she did not take cover again, instead exposed herself to enemy fire even more. He saw it coming, yet he was powerless to prevent it and Dr. Morton got hit by a shot that was meant for him. Hissing in pain, she finally withdrew, her own phaser still in hand, but as she leaned out of cover to return fire, Khan snatched her weapon away.

“What the hell?”, she yelled at him, fiery anger in her eyes and her own blood on her forehead, “They’re after you, not us, so help u…”

He did not let her finish her accusations, but forcefully cut her off by bringing the butt end of the phaser down on her temple, thereby knocking her out cold. Now limp, she would have fallen silently to the ground had Khan not scooped her up in time.

“Oi, you!”, one of the guards called after him and tried to grab his ankle as he stood up with the unconscious Dr. Morton on his shoulder, but Khan kicked mercilessly against the man’s wrist and felt the bones crush beneath his heel. The guard’s cry of pain died away as he ran for cover and another way to his cruiser for at the moment, it was blocked by Starfleet officers.

For an instant, Khan thought about turning around to face them head-on, to kill them all and let Admiral Hanson deal with the pile of corpses he had left in his wake. What made him discard the idea, he did not know, but Khan used all the energy and thought he had to find an escape route, knowing full well that he was hunted by the very persons who had sent him here.

He kicked in a door and ran through the adjacent store room, not caring in the slightest what they passed until a first aid kit caught his attention. Judging from the blood he had seen on Dr. Morton’s face, she might need it, so he grabbed the kit and pushed on. His intention was to circle around the station, but Khan held no comfortable illusions. By the time he would be around Aescus station, the Starfleet officers would surely have figured out his plan and wait by his cruiser. They were not completely useless after all.

So when he rounded the corner, he was prepared and killed the first of the raiders awaiting him before she had even had the time to begin turning around to him. Her two fellows were now alert, but one fell victim to the attack of a guard of Aescus Station, Khan fired at the other while he ran towards his cruiser. He heard enraged shouts behind him and reckoned they were directed at him for stealing their precious doctor, but he did not care, instead, he pressed and dashed inside the Umbellion.

A hot sting burned his shoulder, a shot wound as he registered with no interest as there was no time to waste. Carelessly and by this not too gingerly, he dropped Dr. Morton into a seat, then tossed both her phaser and the one he had stolen into her lap before he started the cruiser while still standing. Only when the take-off sequence had been initiated did Khan take the time to sit down for he was sure he would need his concentration to steer clear of Starfleet. They would not let him get away quite so easily.

And he soon found that he was right and the disguised vessel too rose from the fragment of the moon Praxis and rushed into pursuit. Relieved that he was in command of a Sarajevo-type cruiser, Khan prepared for warp speed, but he already knew that even without the debris of Praxis in his way simply reaching warp speed would take more time than he had to spare, probably even more than he had at hand at all. So he began to outmanoeuvre his pursuers and used the floating fragments to hide behind best he could. With a quick turn that almost sent the still unconscious Dr. Morton tumbling out of her seat Khan dropped behind another lump of Praxis’ rock, when the powerful bolt of phaser guns reduced the fragment to pieces and dust was sent flying off into all directions. The next shot hit the cruiser and the impact of the energy exploding at the rear end made the whole cruiser shake.

Already the computer reported damage to the hull, but Khan muted it with a single gesture. He did not need any distractions right now. Nevertheless, he accepted the message coming through: “Surrender, Harrison, or we will make you!”

He did not even snort at the officer’s arrogant demand and was just about to close the channel again when his enraged voice boomed: “I have authority to arrest you for the murder of Admiral Pike.”

So this was what it was all about, at least for those raiders. With a half-hearted grin, Khan remembered the scientist Strauss who had said that not everyone would like him back. Obviously, this self-announced knight of justice was one of them, but he surely was not here on Starfleet’s orders, so Khan dryly replied: “No, you most certainly do not have this authority.”

“You will answer for your crimes one way or another!”, the Starfleet officer shouted, but Khan shut the channel and as soon as he had passed through the scattered debris of Praxis, he propelled the cruiser into warp speed. The Starfleet vessel followed suit, but they could not reach him for after all, it was not the U.S.S. Vengeance. But still, he had to lose them and quickly.

So Khan braced himself and deliberately dropped out of warp all of a sudden. Gasping from the sudden brake, he barely reached Dr. Morton in time to keep her from crashing against the console in front of her. Turning the cruiser to the side, he once again accelerated to warp speed to bring the much needed distance between him and the avengers of Pike, Starfleet officers gone rogue. Or had they?

Calmly ending warp speed and inspecting his surroundings, Khan entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, he had been sent on this goose chase to retrieve an utterly irrelevant deserter just to give Starfleet the opportunity to hunt him down. As soon as he had thought of it, he discarded the idea again and glanced to the side at Dr. Morton. Maybe she had some answers and he would get them from her, whether she liked it or not.  
A quick scan of the area told him they were completely alone in this region and so he inspected the damage those Starfleet phasers had done to the cruiser. It was manageable, but not pleasant, so he would have to land somewhere and inspect the damage more closely.

Khan ran a scan for the nearest planets and space stations, hoping to find something of use, anything at all. As the computer showed him a small class M planet, not colonised as far as Starfleet and their database knew, he set course for it without any hesitation. He already felt the slight changes the hull damage had brought with it, the unsteady flight and the different noises of the cruiser and he was relieved to have found a habitable planet in such close proximity.

Glancing at his prisoner, Khan confirmed that Dr. Morton was still out cold and for a moment, he was worried that he may have hit her too hard on the head. Grimacing at this thought, he pressed his forefinger to her neck and, as he felt her pulse beating, steady and strong, he cast this concern aside and landed the cruiser near a golden forest dappled with boulders. Forests, usually, meant shelter and animals to hunt and most of all cover, so this was exactly what he wanted until he had repaired the cruiser and contacted Admiral Hanson to verbally rip his head off.

Another scan confirmed that the perimeter was secure, no human-like life forms anywhere near and neither animals for they surely had fled the noise of the cruiser.

Shutting down the engine by flicking various switches in order to hide them from sensors, Khan was just about to ask the computer to open a channel to Admiral Hanson and he had already opened his mouth when he heard an all too familiar whirring to his right. A phaser.

He froze, but glanced at Dr. Morton who aimed both phasers at him and demanded: “Give me one good reason not to shoot you on the spot.”


	3. Forming a Plan

“Heed your own advice, Doctor.”, Khan calmly spoke to Eileen Morton, unfazed by the fact that she was pointing two phasers at him. She frowned and he was still glancing at her from the side when he explained: “Think about it. This is not a very wise thing to do.”

“But it’s all I can do.”, she shot back and even though he knew it was true, Khan gave an exasperated sigh. Starfleet officials, they never learned.

With a quick jerk of his hand he snatched both weapons from her grip and pointed one at her while he rested the other in his lap. She gasped in horror, but soon had herself under control again. Remarkable, he could not stop himself from thinking it, as she raised her hands in defeat, but jutted her chin out in unbroken defiance.

“Alright.”, she said, clearly angry and he also heard a hint of fear, but she controlled it well, “What now? Will you…just shoot me?”

“Think again.”, he grunted, “Why would I have brought you here if this was my intention?”

“Forgive me.”, she spat in irritation, “Everybody’s okay with being held at gun point, me, I’m just picky for not thinking straight while looking directly into a phaser. In your hands, no less.”

In the very last moment, Khan fought back the grin that was about to spread on his face. She was a handful indeed. He was almost willing to believe that not talking to her would have made it all easier for him, but he needed the answers she possibly possessed. So, without a word, he lowered the phaser.

This clearly startled her and she opened her mouth to speak, but then all of a sudden her hand jerked forward. Khan was not willing to allow her to snatch back the weapons, so he raised one of them again and she froze. But then, in an outburst of irritated anger, Eileen Morton groaned: “Your shoulder’s bleeding. And I’m still a doctor, you jerk!”

All he could do was frown at her. This woman was…nothing like anyone he had ever met.

Startled by the thought, Khan resorted to defensive snide remarks: “I am no doctor, but I do think your forehead and temple need more attention than my shoulder does.”

Dr. Morton frowned at this and then, to his utter surprise, burst out laughing: “Oh my. They warned me you’re difficult, but honestly, they had no idea whatsoever!”

“Who did?”, Khan asked, now alert and distrusting, but she arched an eyebrow and smiled, in this very situation she managed a smile as she retorted, teasing, “Who wouldn’t?”

“Tell me!”, he demanded, furious, as he leapt to his feet and grabbed his captive by the collar of her white coat, lifting her up in the air with ease. Now he saw a glimpse of panic in the blue of her eyes, but she quickly blinked it away and closed her fingers around his wrists as if to ease his hands away, an attempt that was futile of course.

“Please.”, she whispered, “Let’s talk this over, okay? I’ll tend to your wound after I patched myself up and we can talk. I…I honestly don’t think that either of us was told the truth.”

“What do you mean?”, Khan snarled at her and she took a shaky breath as she said, “Let me down. I’ll tell you everything I know and hope you’ll do the same. I guess this isn’t what it seems to be.”

“We will see.”, he hissed at her and even though he had every intention to just drop her to the floor, Khan found himself gently lowering her down until her feet touched the ground again. Maybe he was getting soft just because of a pair of blue eyes after all. So he gruffly turned around and shoved the first aid kit into her hands.

“Thanks.”, Dr. Morton breathed and although he did not look at her, he heard the small case snap open, heard her rummaging through its contents and then busying herself with treating her wounds.

“Ouch.”, she winced and out of instinct, Khan glanced at her. He saw her applying a salve to her temple, to the blackish-blue bruise that had built where he had hit her to knock her out.

“You do have quite the punch.”, she groaned and gave him a half-hearted grin. This comment confused him even more. Was she toying with him? And even more important…was it working? He just did not know anymore.

At the moment, he was not sure of anything apart from the fact that Ling was dead. Everything else was a blur of lies and falsehoods he could not decipher, at least not on his own .So he intently looked at Dr. Morton again, who got up from her seat and asked him: “Sit down and I’ll take a look at your shoulder.”

“It’s fine.”, he objected, “It will heal.”

“Sure thing it will.”, she said sarcastically, “But you wouldn’t want a scar on a pretty boy like yourself.”

Frowning, he eyed her up for this comment and she sighed in exasperation: “Look. Most men, I can convince to let me see their wounds by aiming at their pride. But you’re obviously different, I get that. Can I take a look nevertheless? Only to make myself feel better?”

He really had no idea what she was playing at, but he gave her a shrug.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”, she sighed and walked up to him, examining his shoulder with an efficient and quick glance before she tended to it.

“Tell me.”, he demanded through gritted teeth.

“There isn’t’ much to tell you, honestly.”, Dr. Morton replied while she cleaned his wound thoroughly, her hands obviously skilled and tender, yet efficient at this task, “I had a bad divorce, decided to flee, so I wound up in Starfleet. For a few years, it was right as rain, but then…the demanded I do something I thought was wrong and I still think so. But they wanted it and as I refused, they branded me a deserter. So I did what any good old deserter does, I fled. And now they obviously got you to chase me down.”

“Why?”, Khan asked furiously and turned around to her, “Why me if there are well enough headhunters they could have sent?”

Pain and guilt flashed up in her eyes and Khan got up, towered over her as she opened her mouth, but did not speak.

“Why?”, he demanded again and she closed her eyes as she whispered in defeat, “Because…they wanted me to make vaccines. From your blood, the blood of your crew.”

As if struck by a blow, Khan sank back into the pilot’s chair, completely overwhelmed by this revelation. And of what it implied.

Thoughts raced through his mind so quickly he was almost not able to follow them, so in his confusion, he stood up again and grabbed Dr. Morton by the neck. She flinched, but did not fight back, did not even reach for his wrists, but simply hung in his grip.

“What else?”, he snarled and everything in him wanted to hurl her against the cruiser’s wall, wanted to inflict pain on someone, anyone, even though he knew she was innocent in this. As far as anyone with Starfleet could be called innocent.

Slowly, he stepped back, aware that it would not help his cause to hurt her – at least not at the moment – and she took a deep breath. But as Dr. Morton spoke again, her voice was steady: “Admiral Hanson ordered me into his office and…proposed a special assignment. The points he raised weren’t that bad, I have to admit…”

Without his conscious decision, Khan had taken a threatening step towards her and she retreated, pleading: “Hear me out.”

He nodded sharply, so she continued: “He claimed that a single shot of a recombinant vaccine made from your blood could cure illnesses we have not yet found a way to even manage the symptoms of, that it could even prevent them from ever manifesting in a patient. It’s… any physicians dream. But…it was a lie.”

This did not surprise him, yet he pressed on: “In which regard?”

“Just about every damn possible regard.”, Dr. Morton replied with a shaky voice and shook her head in disgust, “He was called from his office and I had a few moments to busy myself all alone. That’s when I found the files. I didn’t snoop around or anything, they were just…just lying there. He wasn’t after a cure for illness; he wanted his soldiers augmented in a non-detectable way. He wanted to give those shots to soldiers to make them stronger, heal faster, give them more stamina. The benefits of genetic augmentation without the actual augmentation. Since it’s prohibited after what…happened with your people. Sorry.”

She muttered the last word, but Khan shrugged it away. They had become greedy and arrogant, at least some of them. But he surely would not tell her that he thought so, instead he demanded: “What happened then?”

“When the Admiral came back, I claimed that I had thought it over and didn’t want to partake in this endeavour. That it was too risky.”, she explained.

“Risky?”, Khan gave a derisive snort, “How would that constructed prospect of healing all illness strike you as too risky?”

Her blue eyes were on him and sadness flooded them as she whispered hoarsely: “Not for the patients to receive the vaccine. For the blood donors. Your crew.”

He frowned for there was nothing else he could do. Was there actual concern in her eyes, concern for his crew, people she did not even know? How could that be?

“Ah for goodness’ sake!”, she cursed and threw her hands into the air, “Don’t you see it? They didn’t want to revive any of you for the procedure but draw the blood while keeping the donor – your men – in a half-sleep, not really in cryostasis, not really awake. That was the risky part. Excuse the image, but they wanted to only thaw you all halfway, to collect the blood samples while you were still asleep, so that no one would notice the drawing of blood at all. And after that, I should’ve been the one to combine all the samples and distil the best combination. But I refused, so the threw me out.”

Breathing hard from her outbreak, Dr. Morton turned away from him and took a deep breath. However, she then squared her shoulders and obviously regained her composure, as she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked him straight in the eye as she asked: “So, what’s your part of the story, where do you come in? Last time I saw you, you were still in cryostasis.”

Khan’s eyes narrowed at this and she bit her lip, muttering: “I shouldn’t have said that, I guess. Anyhoo, care to explain why you’re here, why you were after me?”

“They sent me.”, Khan replied and as she arched an eyebrow in surprise, he elaborated, “Admiral Hanson had me awoken and told me to find you as you had cleverly hidden somewhere Starfleet could not go.”  
She smiled half-heartedly at this, but Khan tonelessly added: “They told me you were the only one who can save my crew.”

Her smile instantly vanished and Dr. Morton rapidly went over to him, fear in her eyes, genuine concern, as she asked, frantic: “What happened to them?”

Her sympathy caught him off guard, again, but he pushed the thought aside and told her: “Ling is dead.”

It did not surprise him that his voice was nothing more than a pathetic croaking sound, but it did surprise him that he let it show. And even more so did Dr. Morton’s reaction.

“No…”, she breathed and closed her eyes in pain, but that only made a tear fall. She cried for his friend, a woman she had never known.

“Oh no…”, she repeated, then furiously wiped away her tears and looked up at him, demanding an answer, “Did it happen while they drew her blood?”

“I was told the pod malfunctioned.”, Khan replied coldly, at which she scoffed indignantly, “And that you were the only expert in cryogenics to be able to find and repair the defect.”

“I should never have left.”, Dr. Morton whispered and dropped down into a seat, holding her head in her hands, “If I only had drawn the blood myself, maybe…just maybe…”

Khan stood over her, silently demanding an answer and as she looked up to face him, she braced herself and told him: “Admiral Hanson is right, I am an expert on the field. That’s why I highly doubt there was any malfunction to begin with.”

He cocked his head, already knowing in his gut that she was right, but Khan was not yet ready to entertain this idea, so he kept listening: “But I guess they found someone else who went along with the plan…and could not keep your friend alive during the procedure.”

“She…died while they tried to draw her blood?”, Khan asked, even though he had understood her perfectly fine, however, another idea had begun to take shape in his mind and he almost shied away from it. Dr. Morton, on the other hand, did not, for she said grimly: “Either that…or they…killed her just to get from you what they wanted. Me.”

His fists clenched shut so tightly and forcefully, he felt the sting of his fingernails biting into his palms, but Khan savoured the pain. It was something he could control…in contrast to what Starfleet was doing to his crew and even to himself.

“I…I sure hope I am wrong.”, Dr. Morton murmured as she stood up in front of him, “I don’t want to think that Hanson did this on purpose, but I wouldn’t put it past him. Still, I just hope that whoever they got for the job messed up and it was an accident.”

He looked away, for they both knew that an accident was not the most likely explanation for Ling’s death. She was killed just to blackmail him.

“I am so sorry.”, Dr. Morton whispered miserably and slowly, as if to give him the time to back away, she raised her hand and gently put it on his forearm.

“I wish none of this had happened. And it is my fault.”, she said and her voice jerked Khan out of his dazed state of shock. Quickly, he snatched away his arm and brought distance between them before he snapped at her: “How is any of this your fault?”

“I don’t know!”, she cried, shaking, “But it feels as if her blood was on my hands too. I… refused to help Hanson, but somehow…if I had taken care of it, then maybe… Ah, goodness’ sake, I don’t know! But I feel responsible nonetheless.”

Defiantly she stared at him now, but then sighed and shrugged: “So, what now? What can we do?”

“Nothing.”, he muttered under his breath, but was immediately confronted with an accusatory gasp, “What? How can we do nothing, nothing at all?”

“We, doctor, will not do anything.”, Khan shot back angrily, but composed in his rage, “I, on the other hand, will get rid of you and then take appropriate measures against Admiral Hanson and his associates.”

“Get…rid of me…?”, Dr. Morton whispered, “No, don’t…”

Khan eyed her up as she obviously thought he was going to kill her. And why should he not? It would have been easy enough to shoot her or wring her neck and then dump her body. Yet he was not willing to do this to her, not after all the compassion she had shown. It was a strange thought that felt even stranger, but he nevertheless nursed the thought and decided to act according to it.

“I will drop you off the first space station along the way.”, he told his captive and was about to slide into the pilot’s seat, when her small hand grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. The pain that shot through his wound was a negligible nuisance and it was his decision to face her, but he was indeed curious what she had to say. And he was angry.

“Do you even know where to go?”, Dr. Morton asked him, also clearly angry, but there was nevertheless concern in the blue of her eyes and as he did not answer, she added, “Do you know where your crew is kept, how you can reach them?”

He had told her nothing about that specialised space station Admiral Hanson had mentioned and that its location would only be revealed to him once he had her captive, so he deduced she had guessed as much. Again, he could not help but be astonished at her, but he coldly told her: “This is none of your concern, doctor.”

“Damn straight it is!”, she shot back as he had wanted to turn away from her, but so he faced her and under his scrutinising gaze, she did not falter, not even flinch, “I feel responsible for the crewmember you have already lost, I don’t want you to lose anyone else. Nor do I want you to get hurt, for that matter.”

He watched her out of narrowed eyes and slowly, she grew unsure of herself, he could see it, but nevertheless she kept talking: “Look, I know Admiral Hanson, he was one of the officers who trained me. I know how he thinks. So let me guess: He told you that you cannot take a look at the rest of your crew for they are already in a “safe” location and that he will only reveal this ominous location to you once you have found me, for I am what he sent you after. How far off am I?”

Irritated, Khan shook his head, again impressed, but then he reluctantly admitted: “Spot on.”

“Thought so.”, she said and managed a feeble grin before she suggested, “What about this plan? You tell him you got me, he will reveal your crew’s location and then we…somehow get them away from there?”

All he could do was frown at her for this and she admitted: “Yeah, well, the plan’s only half-baked yet, but it’s a start.”

“No.”, he outright refused and before she overcame her perplexity, Khan added, “I will go along with the first part, because Admiral Hanson will probably want to have proof you are with me, but I will do the rest on my own.”

“You can’t!”, she told him stubbornly, “You don’t know him, I’m your best bet.”

“No, you are not.”, he retorted grimly and did not give her the opportunity to talk back, instead he opened a channel to contact Admiral Hanson.

“Yes?”, came the smug voice and at this sound, Dr. Morton and Khan both simultaneously grimaced with disgust, but he kept his voice neutral and smooth as he said, “I have located and captured your deserter. Now tell me where my crew is.”

“Good, Mister Harrison.”, said the Admiral coldly, “But let’s not do anything rash. I want to speak to Dr. Morton first.”

At this, she gave him a look that practically screamed at him “told you”, but she said nothing until Khan motioned her to speak with a sharp nod.

“I’m here.”, she said wearily and he had the impression that she did not have to act much on this part.

“Good.”, sounded Admiral Hanson’s voice, “I did not expect you to fail, but you were indeed faster than I imagined. I am sending you the coordinates now.”

“While you are at it, get a hold of your men.”, Khan growled and into the silence that followed he told the Admiral, “I was attacked by self-announced avengers of your late Admiral Pike. Get your men under control.”

“I will.”, Admiral Hanson replied in audible annoyance and then without another word he closed the channel.

“You really shouldn’t have made him angry…”, Dr. Morton mumbled, but as Khan shot her a sharp glare, she said, “Or maybe you of all people can afford to piss him off.”

Not wasting any more time, Khan accessed the sent coordinates and stared at them. They were not all too far from Earth, but as far as he knew, still in the middle of nowhere.

“That bastard.”, Dr. Morton muttered under her breath, which made him turn around to her. Looking over his shoulder she told him: “Those are the coordinates of Hygia Science Station. I earned my degree in cryogenics there.”

The thought that struck him he did not like at all, but nevertheless Khan asked her: “So you know this space station.”

“Like the back of my hand. Almost.”, she replied, “It’s been five years, but I don’t think they changed it that much. Although the security systems might have improved since then.”

Khan thought it over for a moment, then nodded and ordered: “Sit down, doctor. Tell me everything you know.”

She frowned, but sat down, albeit reluctantly. As soon as she looked at him again, Dr. Morton slowly asked: “What are you playing at?”

“You will provide me with all the information I need, then I will drop you off on the way and break in.”

He wanted her out of the way for she would surely only slow him down. At least this was what Khan tried to talk himself into, but he already knew that he also did not want her to get hurt in a fight that was not hers but his, which she nevertheless had chosen to be hers as well.

“Forget it!”, she protested after a stretching moment of silence, “You’re never going to make it even in alive! As soon as they see you without me, they’ll know it’s a trick and they will shoot you on the spot.”

“Let them try.”, Khan grimly spoke through gritted teeth, but Dr. Morton angrily snapped at him, “Even if you manage to outrun guards and turrets, you can’t beat a retina scan.”

At this he arched an eyebrow and she muttered: “Well…technically, you can. You could rip someone’s eye out, although that would be gross. But my point is: If they want to keep you there, you’ll have an extremely hard time getting out. Plus, what about your crew?”

He did not like it, but she was right. He had no means to even get himself out of there, let alone his family.

“So.”, Dr. Morton suggested calmly, “I say we go in there together. You deliver me just as you were told to and then… we’ll play for time until we can think of some way to get them all out. At least that’s two of us then and not you all on your own. But a bit more help would be great, someone to get your crew and us out, some sort of…diversion.”

Khan processed that suggestion for a moment and then a grin spread on his face.

“What?”, Dr. Morton asked warily and he replied, “You raised an interesting point, doctor. We could provide a diversion, while someone else will get my crew out. And I know just the man for this.”

“Should I be afraid?”, she asked, but he saw the mischievous glitter in her eyes that told him she was not, even if he was to give her more reason for being afraid than she already had.

“By all means, doctor.”, Khan jested and she actually laughed. It felt strange, yet good, and Khan found himself not only feeling anger and sorrow, but also a light sensation that lifted his spirits.

“I will send a message out to him.”, he told her, but kept a secret about the fact that his intended associate would probably not listen to a word he had to say, “But then I have to repair the damage the cruiser sustained.”

She nodded and as Khan prepared to open a channel, he suggested: “Would you give me a hand with the repairs, doctor?”

“Oh gosh, I thought you’d never ask!”, she laughed and jumped away to get the tools, so it seemed. While rummaging through the storage lockers, she called over her shoulder: “Oh and by the way, my name is Ellie. You could use it, you know.”

Khan merely nodded, but made no committing statement, instead he mumbled under his breath: “I will think about it. Eileen.”


	4. Allies

“Alright, that’s all I can remember for sure.”, Eileen sighed and brushed her hair out of her face before she looked at Khan, “I know that map is…well, crap to say the least, but it’s a start.”

It was, but he said nothing, instead studied the layout of Hygia Science Station she had drawn. There were blanks, quite a few, and he was sure it was not exactly to scale, but it was something at least.  
“I tried to find blueprints, but it was no use.”, Eileen added apologetically, “This will have to do.”

“And it shall.”, Khan nodded, adjusted their course and then studied the plan more closely.

“There, that’s a retina scan.”, she began and highlighted the landing dock, “You can’t get out of there unless the guards let you pass and the scan says you’re free to go.”

His eyes scanned the area and she chuckled quietly, so Khan frowned at her and she joked: “If you’re thinking of air shafts and that shenanigans, I have no idea whatsoever where the heck air shafts are in the station. Sorry.”

He shrugged it off, but felt uncomfortable. How had she known what he had been thinking of? It amazed him…and alerted him, as did the woman herself.

Shaking his head, Khan snapped out of those thoughts and urged Eileen on with an impatient gesture.

“Once you pass the retina scan, there are a plethora of places you could go. But this is the cooling chamber, I expect that your crew will be there.”, she said, matter-of-factly, but as she spoke of his crew, Eileen’s voice softened and she glanced at him…as if she wanted to protect him. It was ludicrous.

Saying nothing Khan glared at her and she cleared her throat before she continued: “And that’s the biggest lab, they’re most likely to want the procedure done in there because, you know, the best equipment is there, really. And it’s close to the cooling chamber, the…fresh supply of blood.”

Again her voice trailed off, but before she could again look at him in this way, as if he was the vulnerable one of the two of them, Khan snapped at her: “How is this supposed to help me get them out?”

“I don’t know!”, she furiously cried, “I…I was just trying to help, alright, you said you had an ally who could help us with getting them out!”

Now she was the one who glared and for a split-second, Khan felt a pang of regret. But he discarded it as quickly as it had come over him and he said: “True. Is the station protected against transporter beams?”

“You mean…beam us out? All of us?“, Eileen asked with disbelief, but then a grin spread on her lips, „You’d need a hell of a ship to do that, not just a transporter like the Umbellion.“

“I shall have one capable of beaming my crew out.”, Khan replied and she snorted, “Yeah, if and only if your ally agrees with us. So who is it anyway?”

“Later, doctor.”, was the only answer he provided and he promptly earned himself a disapproving frown, but Eileen said nothing. So silence travelled with them and Khan, surprisingly, found it hard to bear. Even worse, he felt the scrutinising gaze Eileen held on him and he highly despised the effect it had on him. He felt guilty for treating her the way he had.

Not exactly knowing what to do, Khan meekly cleared his throat and then, grasping at straws, anything to end her silence, he asked the first question that came to his mind: “Why did you tell me about your divorce?”  
As soon as he had said it, he wanted to take the question back, but it had accomplished what he had wanted, it broke her silence.

“What?”, Eileen gasped, clearly taken aback, “Why…why do you want to know?”

“It hardly seems something to tell a complete stranger.”, he replied evasively and she snorted before admitting weakly, “Honestly? I have no idea why I said that. Maybe…I just wanted you to know, but I can’t explain why. Anyway, it’s not that important.”

“So you say, but you do not mean it.”, Khan declared, throwing a glance at her crossed arms and her shoulders, pulled up as if to protect her from harm, and again she snorted derisively, but then slowly, Eileen mumbled sadly, „Fair enough. He was an aspiring politician when we got married. And somehow this all got into his head, I guess, for I can’t seem to find another explanation for why three years into our marriage, I caught him with another woman, his secretary no less. Such a cliché. And she was only four years younger than I was back then. Well…I wanted a divorce and I got it, but he took everything with him. I was left with nothing apart from what I had in my head and the clothes I had worn that day. So really, Starfleet was my only option, yet not exactly my choice.”

Surprised by her words, Khan looked at her and she rolled her eyes: “Don’t give me that look, I know it’s pathetic. But I never wanted this, I just had no other choice or at least none that I could see. Anyhoo, it doesn’t matter.”

It did matter, at least to him, even though Khan was not sure why it did.

So he decided to stay silent until Eileen’s question caught him off guard: “What about you? Is there a wife in your crew?”

He glanced at her, stricken, but he owed her an answer, so he gave it: “No. There is no one.”

“Ouch.”, she muttered and he felt her eyeing him up, studying him, and just as he was about to ask what this was all about, she asked a question herself: “So you are doing this, you are beating yourself up solely for your crew.”

“They are my family.”, he replied in a whisper and bit his tongue as soon as he had.

“Yeah, I can see that now.”, Eileen murmured thoughtfully and then almost tonelessly, she added, “They are lucky to have you.”

From the corner of his eye, Khan saw her wipe away a single tear and the loneliness she felt was exactly what he knew from himself.

He did not know what to do, what to say, only that he wanted to offer her some sort of comfort, but he had no idea how.

To his luck, a message on the screen spared him the futile attempt.

“We are almost at the meeting point.”, Khan announced and anxiously, Eileen looked out for the ship he had arranged to meet here. He still did not know why his ally had even agreed to this meeting, but he hoped for the best because if he failed to get his help, he would fail his crew entirely.

Ending warp speed, Khan ran a scan of the area, finding nothing, as expected, but only moments after they had arrived, another ship appeared right in front of them. To his relief, it was exactly who he had expected.  
“You can’t be serious!”, Eileen called out, “This is a Starfleet ship!”

“I know.”, Khan said calmly and wanted to advance to the ship, but Eileen caught his hand in hers, so small and weak in comparison, but yet determined to stop him: “This isn’t just any Starfleet ship. I guess I don’t have to tell you, but this is the very ship whose Captain you pissed off the most, that hunted you down!”

“I am aware of this.”, he gently said and pried away her fingers from his wrist, “But Kirk is also my only option. He…understands.”

Sighing anxiously, Eileen looked at the U.S.S. Enterprise in front of them and muttered, “Gosh, I hope you are right. If not, we’re screwed.”

He would not admit it, but he shared her hopes and fears according this and so he directed the transporter to the landing dock of the Starfleet vessel.

“I really hope you’re right.”, Eileen emphasised as she stood up after they had landed and together they exited the cruiser just to be met with phasers pointed directly at them.

Out of instinct, Khan pushed Eileen behind him and did not grant himself any opportunity to think about why he wanted to protect her, but instead he growled: “Snap out of it. Get me to your Captain.”

“You will excuse the precautions we took, they were the only logical thing to do.”, a half-Vulcan said and without another word guided them out of the landing dock, accompanied by no less than eight armed Starfleet officials.

“Oh my, you did leave quite an impression.”, Eileen whispered and as Khan shot her a bemused glance, she smirked and nodded at their escort. And even though she held her smile up, Khan could see through her bravado, registered the signs of anxiety, the dilated pupils, her harsh breath.

They met no one on their short walk and Khan was not surprised by this fact. So when Spock finally entered a room in which Captain Kirk and another man were already waiting for them, Khan traded greeting words for: “I see you know perfectly well how to keep your crew safe.”

“A lesson I learned the hard way.”, Kirk replied with a grimace and added, “You said it was urgent and concerning your crew, again. What’s the matter?”

Just as he was about to answer, the other crew member gasped in utter surprise: “Good God, Ellie, is that you?!”

“Leonard?”, Eileen asked in equal astonishment and then, laughing, pushed past their guards to run to the man in blue who scooped her up in an embrace too tight for even a long lost friend, “A familiar and friendly face at last! I’m so glad to see you.”

“So am I, hon. What brings you here?“, he asked, gently lowering her feet to the ground again.

„Bones, you noticed we have a guest, Khan?“, Kirk interrupted with a chuckle before he looked at Eileen, “He also happens to have a girl with him and a gorgeous one at that.”

“Keep away from her.”, Eileen’s friend ordered grimly, an order Khan found himself to support, but he said nothing. Instead he let Eileen speak: “Relax boys. It’s good to see you again, Leonard, but we’re here because we’re in serious trouble.”

With that, she nodded at Khan and to his astonishment, walked over to him, where she nodded yet again and Kirk prompted him: “Alright, tell me. What’s going on?”

Khan told them briefly and to the point what had happened, why he had again been awoken and how he had found Eileen, about the scheme Admiral Hanson had laid out for them. All the time, their eight guards were listening, but he wasted not a single thought at them, but concentrated on Kirk and his closest friends, for none other were the two beside him, Spock and Leonard McCoy.

“You see, I have to save them and help would be appreciated.”, he concluded and gestured at Eileen, “After Dr. Morton and I found my crew, I need someone to get us all out. Your ship can transport this number of individuals simultaneously, you have already proven that.”

“So…you’re actually asking for help?”, Kirk summed it up and Khan took a deep breath, unwilling to stoop down to the level Kirk apparently wanted him at, unwilling to beg.

“Yes.”, Eileen cut in and it relieved him that she took pleading upon her, “We can make it seem that he caught me after all and we’re playing along, but we can’t keep this up for a very long time. We have to act and we have to do it fast. Admiral Hanson already knows that Khan has gotten a hold of me.”

“A word?”, McCoy sternly asked of her, but Eileen shook her head, “Leonard, no, there is no time…”

“Are you out of your naïve mind?”, he hissed at her, “You do know who he is?”

“I do.”, Eileen replied with a certainty Khan could not understand, “But this isn’t only about who he is. It’s about his crew and also about Starfleet. How can we allow bastards like Hanson to do this to us?”  
“I…”, Dr. McCoy began, but then turned to Kirk, “Jim, you tell her!”

Stubbornly, Eileen turned to Kirk as well who winked at her and then said: “Actually, I think the idea isn’t half bad.”

“Good, you…what?!”, McCoy asked irritated, but Kirk explained angrily, “She’s right, Bones, first Admiral Marcus, now Hanson? This has to stop. And despite everything Khan has done, everything he’s caused – and it was a whole load of crap – his crew shouldn’t have to suffer for it.”

Relieved to no end, Khan closed his eyes for a moment, allowed himself this one second of ease before he looked at Kirk again. He had known that he of all people would understand as Kirk himself had learned of sacrifice for his crew’s benefit.

“You’re mad.”, McCoy stated, but Eileen shook her head, “No, he isn’t. Or at least we’re all mad together.”

“You’ve always been mad, hon.”, McCoy shot at her, but although he was angry, Khan saw a glimpse of affection and found his impression confirmed as Eileen smiled up at him, saying, “So have you, Leonard. Now, are you in?”

“It is reckless, but yes, we’re in.”, Kirk answered instead of him and nodded at Khan before he added, „Just know that this isn’t about you, Khan, it’s about your crew. But we’re gonna need much more than just a flimsy plan. Sorry, Doc.”

“Nah, it’s okay, I know it was rubbish without more details.”, she waved his words away with a half-hearted smirk, „So, what do we do?“

“Depends.”, Kirk shrugged, “How much of an actress are you?”

Dr. McCoy laughed: “You wouldn’t believe it. She can fool anyone. Except me.“

„Sure.“, Kirk nodded doubtfully and Eileen snorted, „Oh please, his ex-wife never knew I hadn’t just brought him my notes about medicine but also a whole different sort of medicine, if you get my drift.”

Kirk’s mouth was agape and as Khan caught the innuendo, he could barely prevent himself from staring as the Enterprise’s captain did. What he could not prevent was the rage boiling in him, unwanted and wrong, but undoubtedly there.

After a stretching moment of surprised silence, Kirk managed to stutter: “Wait, so you’re…the reason for his divorce?”

“No, I’m not!”, Eileen laughed merrily at Kirk, „We went to Med school together and had the bad luck of choosing the same lawyer for our respective divorces, but other than that, no, there was nothing. But I fooled you, didn’t I?”

“Indeed you did.”, Kirk admitted, then turned to the Vulcan, „How about you, Spock?“

„She seemed rather convincing.“, the Vulcan stated, but Eileen cut in, “Yet I wouldn’t stand a thorough inspection of what I claim, I know. That’s why this rescue mission has to be quick, so that together we can buy just about enough time to give you the chance to get Khan’s crew out. It might work.”

“I don’t like it, hon, but yeah, it might.”, McCoy admitted and smiled.

“Then it is settled.”, Khan stated, not wanting his words to sound like a question, and Kirk nodded, “Yeah, we’ll be right behind you, but just out of the sensor’s reach. Now get back to your cruiser and we’ll get this done.”

He was not ready to speak words of gratitude, but Khan slightly bowed his head and Eileen said: “Thanks. Now wish us luck, we’ll probably need it.”

With that, they left the meeting room, together with their eight guards, but also Captain Kirk who addressed Eileen: “Hey, if you need anything else, name it and we’ll see.”

“Thank you, I’ll think about it.”, she replied earnestly and with a smile that had Khan fought the urge to forcefully pull her away, a fight he barely managed to win.

But Kirk was not finished yet. He blocked their way and looked Khan in the eye, so long that he could barely fight back the urge to provoke the Enterprise’s captain with a snide comment.

“I am not doing this for you.”, Kirk then growled, fury in his eyes that Khan had not thought to ever see in the other man’s blue eyes, “I am doing this for your crew, for none of them should have to suffer for all the crimes you committed. The might be no better than you are, but I’ll risk that because this isn’t about your crew either. It’s about Starfleet, about a code of honour you will never be able to understand. Got it?”

“I think so.”, Khan slowly replied, barely containing his anger, but Kirk looked him in the eye, still stubborn and naively kept by his notion of honour, one Khan did not share.

“Good.”, Kirk then finally nodded and stepped out of their way, sending their guards to escort them back to the transporter.

“What the heck was that all about?”, Eileen mumbled to herself, so he did not provide her with an answer. Khan spoke not even a single word until they had reached the solitude of the Umbellion again, for he had no idea what to say. He knew perfectly well that he owed Eileen very much already, and if they succeeded, his debt could never be repaid.

“So, let’s go.”, she cheerfully asked him and flopped into the seat next to the pilot’s, but he waited as if frozen to the ground.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”, she asked and jumped to her feet again, concern in her eyes. At first, he just opened his mouth without saying anything, then he managed to murmur: “Thank you.”

“What for? You did most of the talking.”, Eileen smiled at him and nodded at the pilot’s seat again, „Now come on. I’m happy to help.”

“Why?”, Khan asked as he sat down and she glanced at him, wariness in her eyes, „Why do you want to help me after all that has happened? After all you know about me?“

“Because…”, Eileen began, but then fell silent. After a long moment she softly added: “Because no one should be alone. You are no exception, no one should have to be all alone.”

She spoke no more, but retreated deep into her thoughts, yet Khan knew what she had meant. They were both alone.


	5. Betrayal

„Good luck, folks.“, Captain Kirk’s voice reached them in last good wishes and Eileen jested with a nervous smile, “Thanks, we’re gonna need it, no doubt.”

“Silence now. Over and out.”, Khan cut in and shut the channel which earned him a curious look from the woman next to him, but she said nothing, instead simply watched him open another channel, this time to Hygia Science Station, which was nothing more than a lump of metal in space. Although this station had seen better days by now, it was clear that its true value was hidden inside. For him, this meant especially his crew.

“State your request.”, ordered the stern voice of the operator and Khan could barely prevent himself from snapping at him, but he managed to keep his voice calm: “Get me to Admiral Hanson, we are expected.”

As anticipated, they were immediately admitted: “Welcome aboard, Dr. Morton.”

“Hey.”, Eileen greeted weakly and sarcastically, for which Khan shot her an angry look, but she simply gave him a smile in return. As soon as the channel was shut, he muttered: “Do I have to remind you of the fact that discretion is of the essence?”

“Nope.”, she shook her head and smiled despite their situation, “But Hanson and probably a bunch of the scientist there know me. Don’t you think they’d find it rather suspicious if I wasn’t my old, annoying, big-mouthed self?”

He snarled begrudgingly, but decided to keep silent as he felt the tractor beam grip a hold of the cruiser. She was right after all.

“So let me do this my way.”, Eileen asked, “I know how to act, you’ve seen it. You can trust me.”

At these very words, Khan’s head snapped around to her and he was staring, she flinched and retreated into her seat for a moment, but then gave him another of her cheeky smiles: “You never saw that comin’, did you? You can trust me.”

He was by no means sure of that, so he pried his eyes away from hers, because he wanted to believe her, but he could not afford such a liability. Having her with him was enough of a liability already.

“Oh. My. Gosh.”, Eileen breathed disbelievingly, „You’re on the edge, just about snapping…“

“I am fine.”, Khan growled, yet he did not even believe his own words. They were almost in the landing dock by now, so he had to pull himself together and focus on the task at hand, to bury the concern he felt deep within him and instead reignite the anger against Hanson. With a deep breath he concentrated andthe first part was hard, the second not at all difficult.

“Get up.”, Khan ordered Eileen, “You need to be bound.”

“Yeah, or it wouldn’t look real. Good thing you already beat me up beforehand.”, she joked, but at his angry gaze, she banished the smile from her face. Yet, as he snapped the handcuffs he had found in the storage lockers around her wrists, he could tell from the subtle clearing of her throat that there was a joke she wanted to make, yet she refrained from it, thankfully.

“Let’s get this over with.”, she sighed wearily and Khan heard tears in her voice, but he had to double-check, so he looked into her blue eyes, now rimmed with shimmering tears. For a moment he marveled at the quick change in her demeanour. The loud hissing of the cruiser’s doors as they opened snapped him out of his astonishment and he turned to face the armed guards that ordered: “This way.”

Angrily he grabbed Eileen’s arm and dragged her along, she stumbled, but he kept going and followed the guards, but demanded: “Where is my crew?”

“Just ahead.”, one of them lazily said and Khan was not willing to put up with this.

He pushed Eileen hard against the other guard so they both fell and grabbed the first by his throat, determinedly dosing the force he applied so as to barely not choke him.

“Stop it!”, his comrade ordered, but Khan stared at him, “I might if you tell me where my crew is.”

“They are just ahead. Really.”, the guard answered, obvious terror in his voice, yet he held sternly onto Eileen whose wide eyes were on Khan. Grunting in disgust, Khan flung the guard in his grip to the side and again took Eileen’s arm who flinched away from him, this time genuinely frightened as it seemed, but he only hardened his grip on her arm. When she winced with a harsh intake of breath, he got a hold of himself again and slightly loosened this restraint.

He had lost control for a moment and he was sure it would cost him.

The guard on the floor still choked and coughed, but his comrade ignored him and led the way: “Through here. That’s the retina scan, you know the drill, Dr. Morton.”

“Sure.”, Eileen muttered, “Just as I know you, Clarke.”

“Oh, so you remember me?”, the guard smiled dirtily at her and for a moment, Khan’s grip around her arm tightened again in rage. Eileen did not flinch this time, instead she calmly answered: “Who could ever forget that ugly mug of yours…”

Saying no more, she held her eye to the scanner and access was granted, but the door did not open. Still snarling at Eileen, their guard turned around and raised his arm as a signal to another room located in the roof of the landing dock and only after the guard in there had confirmed their access did the door open.

Within an instant, Khan knew that Eileen had been right. The station was well equipped with devices he recognised only a few of, but even so it was clear to him that they had at their disposal everything they needed to exploit his dormant crew. Anger boiled in him again and as if she had sensed it – or he had tightened his grip on her again - Eileen looked up at him and even though her expression changed not one bit, it reassured him and calmed him, reminded him of the most vital part of this desperate plan. He could not give away that he knew the truth about Hanson’s motives.

“That is the Big Lab.”, the guard pointed at the door they were approaching, “Admiral Hanson is there and your crew is just in the next room.”

It gave Khan satisfaction to still hear fear in the other man’s voice and the soldier left them just as they entered the lab. The sight that greeted him there was almost infuriating enough to blow their disguise, but Khan swallowed the anger and instead pushed Eileen into Admiral Hanson’s direction as he growled: “Here is you deserter. Not get her to work, I want my crew safe.”

“Certainly.”, Hanson replied in the smuggest tone Khan had so far heard from him and then turned to the still handcuffed Eileen, “You heard the man, get to work.”

“I’d love to.”, Eileen sarcastically said, “But my hands are rather preoccupied, you know.”

Without a word, merely an impatient gesture, Hanson ordered one of his soldiers to free her from her handcuffs and as soon as that had been done, Eileen rubbed her wrists as if they had numbed due to long restraint.  
“Now, Dr. Morton, there is a malfunction with some of the capsules. Take a close look, will you?”, Admiral Hanson ordered her, still keeping to the lie he had told Khan, but Eileen scoffed, “What, no one amongst your bootlickers to get the circuits straight?”

“In fact, no.”, an annoyed voice cut in and Khan recognised the scientist, Strauss, as did Eileen, apparently, “Tim? They got you for that job?”

“Yes.”, he confirmed, still angry, “But now you have to do it.”

“No way.”, Eileen denied and turned only halfway to Khan, “Did you tell hi…”

“Silence!”, boomed Admiral Hanson’s voice and it made her flinch visibly, “You, Dr. Morton, are a deserter and this is your chance for mitigation of your punishment, your only chance.”

Khan watched their enraged conversation and even if he had not known that he had been taken in by false information, he most certainly had realised now that something was awry, yet he did not interrupt, but merely watched for the time being.

“Mitigation?”, Eileen asked in confusion after having processed Hanson’s threat for a moment, “How…how did you come up with that?”

“Because I suggested it.”, another man spoke up and although Khan spotted him, standing amongst the scientists and despite that wearing a suit, he immediately knew from Eileen’s reaction that something was amiss. Upon hearing that voice, she had gone rigid and stared at the man who now emerged and took a stand next to Hanson.

“Jack…?”, she then whispered all stunned, “W-what are you doing here?”

“As I told you, darling, I suggested your chance of mitigation. And I strongly suggest you make good use of it.”

“You…planned this, were in on this form the start, weren’t you?”, Eileen spat, “You took everything and now you’ve also taken Starfleet from me. Happy now?”

Within an instant, Khan knew who she was facing, her former husband, the man that had cost her everything.

“Not quite.”, Jack snarled at her, “I want you to finish your job.”

With an almost undetectable glance, her ex-husband pointed at Khan. It was only a small gesture and the change in Eileen’s stance was also minimal, but it was there and it alarmed him. He had to intervene, so he did: “Fix the malfunction in the cryo-pods of my crew, doctor.”

“I…am not sure I can…”, Eileen mumbled, still standing with her back to him and he rushed over, demanding, “Fix it now or…”

He fell silent mid-sentence when a heavy, numbing blow hit him square in his chest.

It took him long, stretching seconds to comprehend that Eileen, now facing him, held a phaser in her hands and that his numbness meant she had stunned him.

“There’s nothing to fix.”, she angrily said, then coldly snapped at Strauss, “Get the specimen on the table, we don’t want to lose time.”

“Good to see you’ve come round.”, Jack said proudly while Khan felt hands grab him and heave him onto an examination table where his limbs where restrained in cuffs and another girth was deployed over his chest. Blearily he looked up and saw none other than Eileen fasten the belts by typing commands into the table’s console, her gaze uncaring as if he was nothing more than a specimen, the exact word she had used for him.  
He fought against the restraints and managed to knock her hand away, which made her cry out: “Stun him again!”

This second stunning bolt hit him heavily, even more so than the first and he lost consciousness. For how long, he could not tell, there were voices around him, but they were all in a blur and as he tried hard to open his eyes, his vision was still blurred. All he could see was Eileen’s face as she was working next to him, her gaze fixed on his arm now bared to the chill air of the lab.

A sharp pain cut through the daze in his mind and with sudden clarity he understood that Eileen was drawing blood from him.

“Don’t…”, he muttered, his speech slurred and his mind too numb to still think of the cover story. It was futile now anyway as she had betrayed him.

“Relax, it’s just a jab.”, she told him in annoyed coldness he was not able to connect with the woman he had known aboard the cruiser or the Enterprise and his erroneous judgment would now cost his life and all lives of his crew.

For a moment Khan gave in to his arising despair, his mind and body still too weary from having been stunned to function properly, yet when he drew a deep breath, he nevertheless realised that his restraints were not as tight as they had been moments before. It gave him pause, but also new hope, fuelled his anger and he looked around, saw the excited faces as Eileen was still drawing blood from him.

“Will that also work on the frozen specimen?”, Strauss eagerly enquired and Eileen dryly told him, without taking her eyes off the syringe, “Sure, if you let me do the procedure and not an imbecile like you.”

When she finally withdrew the needle and disconnected the tube from it, all eyes followed her movement and it gave Khan the opportunity to test his restraints again. They were loose. It would cost even his weakened body no effort to break them.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have a sample to analyse and a vaccine to make.”, Eileen stated and turned away from him, so the very moment no one was focused on him, Khan made good use of it and quickly forced open the restraints and jumped off the table.

“Get him!”, someone yelled, but without a care for it, Khan snapped the neck of the soldier next to him and plucked the phaser rifle from the limp and dead body. There was well enough equipment to take cover behind and he used it efficiently, ducked when absolutely necessary, but otherwise quickly eliminated the few guards in the lab. His targets were Hanson and Eileen, they had to die.

She was nowhere to be seen, but he caught a glimpse of the Admiral over the small group of screaming scientists and saw that he was just about to exit the lab.

Khan darted to the nearest console and with a quick flick of his hand he sealed all exits shut.

“You should not have let me use so much of your technology at my leisure!”, Khan called out to mock, but he seriously and bitterly added, “You should have let me sleep.”

With a quick glance at his surroundings, Khan disregarded the frightened scientists and focused his attention at Admiral Hanson, who immediately took cover, coward.

Jack was next to him and much slower, so Khan shot him with the rifle without any hesitation. The dead body keeled over and then lay sprawled next to Hanson who shouted: “Get that door open!”

“Trying!”, came the panting and frightened answer from Strauss. A few paces to the side gave Khan a clear line of fire and a second shot killed the scientist instantly. Now there was nothing between him and Hanson.

Furious, he cast the rifle aside so it landed on the floor with a loud clatter, eliciting terrified screams from the lab personnel he ignored and he stormed over to the spot where Admiral Hanson was hiding, cowering behind a centrifuge like the coward he was. He even whimpered when Khan towered over him, but yet managed to grab a hold of a phaser to point it at him.

At least he tried, but Khan viciously kicked his wrist, the cracking of bones reverberating through his foot even before he slammed the man’s forearm against the centrifuge he was hiding behind and reduced all the bones under his heel to mere splinters. An agonised wail echoed through the lab, but Khan had no mercy on this man.

“There is always a price for greed and arrogance.”, Khan snarled as he bent down to the terrified man in front of him, “I paid mine. Are you ready to pay yours?”

The caitiff whimper changed to an agonised howling as Khan bored the fingers of one hand deeply into the Admiral’s eye sockets and it only died away as he choked him with a tight grip of his other hand. He relished in the feeling of slowly taking the man’s life, in the warmth and dampness as his fingers pierced the skin of his victim’s neck and he crushed his skull to a bloody pulp that smeared the back of the centrifuge.

Having taken his revenge, Khan turned away and neglected the dead bodies he had left in his wake, ignored the blood dripping from his hands as he faced the few scientists. Again they screamed, but it did not matter to him. Calmly, he picked up a dead soldier’s phaser and pointed it at the nearest lab technician.

“No…”, the woman whimpered, but it meant nothing.

“Stop it!”, another voice cried on terror and Khan turned to see Eileen, fear in her eyes as she took in his blood splattered form, “What are you doing?!”

Growling with unmasked hatred, he stormed over to her and grabbed her, his arm around her chest, forcing her arms to her sides and her back against his chest so forcefully he felt how all air was knocked from her lungs. She panted and struggled, but he held her brutally in place and pushed the phaser against her already bruised temple. The doors opened and soldiers rushed into the lab, yet he did not care but furiously hissed into Eileen’s ear: “You betrayed me. Give me one good reason not to shoot you on the spot.”

She trembled and already soldiers barked orders at him he ignored. He was determined to at least take Eileen down with him, no matter what.

“How about…”, she panted in a whisper and for a moment Khan could not follow her because a dizziness washed over him he momentarily could not comprehend, “I enabled Mr. Scott here to beam us all out?”

Taken aback, he looked at his surroundings and foolishly let go of Eileen, who instantly spun around to face him.

“Good to see ye back in one piece!”, the engineer called in a strong Scottish accent, but then insecurely added, “Um…ye are in once piece, aren’t ye? So…what’s that blood all aboot?”

“You…”, Khan accused Eileen, who raised her hands in defence as he pointed the phaser at her again. Instantly, the crew of the Enterprise, because that was where they were now, rushed into motion and in turn took their aim at him, but Eileen called out: “Lower your weapons! He’s NOT the enemy.”

“You betrayed me!”, Khan shouted at her, but she shook her head and snapped back, “I lied! And you oaf bought it!”

Now he was the one to shake his head and in his confusion, he lowered the phaser.

“Talk.”, he ordered sharply and she seriously had the nerve to smile gently, “My ex-husband never means any good wherever he goes. One glance told me the shields were up, so no transporter beams would’ve gone through. I played along, I had to just to buy time. Sorry I stunned you, twice even, but I had to make them believe it. Then I loosened your restraints to let you escape and while you wreaked havoc like no one else could, I deactivated the shield so Mr. Scott got your crew out. When you grabbed me, I activated the emergency transporter and got us out as well.”

Saying this, she showed him a brace on her wrist and he only now realised it for what it was, an emergency transport unit.

“You…”, he whispered in disbelief and she shook her head, “I even got your blood.”

With that, she tossed the tube of his blood she had drawn in his direction and he absent-mindedly caught it, still confused by what had just occurred.

“You really thought I’d turned on you…”, Eileen stated in equal disbelief as she stared at his astonished face, “You really did.”

He did not know what to say, yet he knew she was waiting for him to speak, maybe apologise, but he could not get himself to do it.

“You know what?”, Eileen hissed after a moment of silence, “Screw it. Screw you! Your crew is in Med-Bay right now and that’s where I’m headed too, someone has to take care of them!”

With these words, she stormed off and left Khan still stunned by his surprise in the middle of the transporter room, blinking in the futile effort to understand what had just happened.

“Oh boy, you really made that fiery lass mad.”, the engineer drawled, but Khan’s enraged stare silenced him instantly.

Slowly it dawned upon him that Eileen had in fact not betrayed him, but instead had remained loyal…but to what end? He could not understand for the life of him why she had risked her life for his crew.

Merely because she felt responsible? He could grasp this concept, yet still not the fact that she felt responsible in the first place.

“Oh and while we’re at it…”, Eileen’s voice furiously called to him and she stormed back to where he still stood motionless, “Wanna know why I did all that? I did that most certainly not for Starfleet. In part I did it for your crew, yes, but other than that…I did that for you. And you thought I had sold you out. I did that for you!”

This last bit she had screamed right into his face and her eyes were alight with fervour and anger.

“For you, you oaf…”, Eileen then muttered angrily and shook her head as he continued his silence, so she burst out in another fit of fury and hissed, “Screw you.“

Instead of marching off as he had expected, Eileen grabbed his collar and forcefully pulled him down to her height. She pressed her lips against his with almost brutish, desperate force. Why she did this, Khan could not comprehend and it left him breathless and motionless, he merely stood there, doing nothing for he was not capable of doing anything.

When Eileen pulled away with a frustrated huff, they stared into each other’s eyes. He saw the question in hers, but had no means to answer it and at his continued silence, she scoffed and spun around, leaving the transporter room.

Eileen left, but the sensation of her kiss lingered and despite his confusion he had to admit that it felt good.

“So you screw up and still get the girl?”, Mr. Scott muttered under his breath, yet Khan had heard him and gave him another reprimanding glare. Ducking behind the console almost instantly, the engineer took cover, but he ignored the Scotsman, for Khan had more important matters to attend to. His crew.

He had to make sure that all of them were alright and… another idea had emerged in his mind, one he would need aid to bring it to life, but he would try, even against all odds. But even though he tried to eliminate all thoughts of Eileen, he found himself not able to as he made his way to the Med-Bay, yet with a slight detour. He had to act on what was best for his crew, Eileen would have to wait, but as it had when he had first laid eyes upon it, her face kept returning to his mind.


	6. New Home

The idea that had just emerged in Khan’s mind, he entertained thoroughly, but the more he thought about it, the more his determination grew. This was the only way.

Taking a sharp turn to the left he decided to make his way to the bridge right now when Kirk almost ran into him.

“Hey, I heard you’re back.”, the Enterprise’s Captain greeted him, “Where’s Ellie? And…whoa! What’s with all the blood, something happened to you two?”

Khan recognised genuine concern in the other man’s gaze, something that surprised him, but he gruffly retorted: “I happened to someone.”

“Yeah, figures…”, Kirk groaned and then nodded at his soiled attire, “You might…wanna wash up?”

“This can wait.”, Khan objected sharply, “I have a proposal to make and I am confident you will agree with me.”

“Oh, you are?”, the captain snickered, but he found it in no way amusing, not when his crew’s welfare was at stake.

“Walk with me.”, he therefore asked and explained at Kirk’s curious look, “To Med-Bay, to my crew.”

“Sure.”, he then nodded and together they made their way through the ship, “What are you suggesting anyway?”

“My crew needs a place to stay, a safe place.”, Khan told him and already saw wariness in Kirk’s eyes, a wariness that boded ill for his idea, “All of us were dormant for a long time, but we were not safe, not for a single moment. I learned that when Ling…was murdered. There is no place for us in your society, neither lying in a frozen sleep nor awake. What we need is a place of our own, secluded and remote where there is no interference.”

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he turned to the captain and awaited his reaction.

“So…”, Kirk drawled, then shook his head as if to gather his senses, “You’re saying I should let Bones wake them all up and then let you all run wild?”

“In a manner of speaking.”, Khan ground out between gritted teeth, but was met with a laugh, “You’re not seriously…wait. You are serious…?”

He only gave a sharp nod as a reply and Kirk shook his head again and called out disgruntled: “Do you have any idea how I should explain that to Starfleet? To anyone?”

For a moment, Khan closed his eyes, but then regarded Kirk with the same scrutinising gaze he had once focused on him when he had been Kirk’s prisoner, he eyed him up and then spoke: “They are my crew, Captain, my family. You do not seriously assume I would leave them again without my protection, without any chance for them to defend themselves.”

Kirk opened his mouth as if to protest, but then simply breathed: “No. No, I don’t because I sure as hell wouldn’t do that to my crew.”

Khan tilted his head and enquired: “It is settled, then?”

“Yeah.”, Kirk replied weakly, still shaking his head, “I must be barking mad, but yeah, you have my word. I won’t let any harm come to your crew, least of all from Starfleet, we did enough already.”

“I expected no less from a responsible captain.”, Khan offered a sincere compliment as they resumed their way to Med-Bay, but Kirk chuckled, “Don’t try flattery, you’re really not my type.”

Startled, he was now the one to shake his head, but then he decided to ignore Kirk’s amusement even though it strongly reminded him of an old friend he was now about to see again after so many years of sleep.

“We will need a class M planet, remote and secluded, as I said, so far off that travellers will not simply stumble upon us, but close enough to reach other settlements with a Sarajevo-type cruiser.”, Khan listed the requirements of their new home, but stopped as he felt Kirk’s curious gaze on him and saw a bright smile on his face, so he added in irritation, “We will need the possibility to trade, especially while establishing our settlement.”

“Yeah, alright, I get that!”, Kirk laughed as they turned a corner and already saw the doors of Med-Bay, “It’s just…you planned this quite thoroughly.”

He had not planned that as he had wished to do it and knew that his plan was still alarmingly incomplete, but he did not allude to it and instead enquired: “Will you run a scan for a planet meeting those requirements?”

“Give me a few more to narrow it down and yeah, we’ll try to find something.”, Kirk nodded and Khan allowed himself a grain of relief that was instantly stalled as he heard, “But first I’m gonna have to convince Bones that this is in fact a good idea.”

The loud hissing of the doors to Med-Bay prevented him from answering and he entered, dumbstruck by the sight that greeted him.

Cryo-pods everywhere and a quick headcount told him there were 71 of them, all of them except for his own pod and Ling’s. It grieved him that they had lost her, but at least the rest of his crew was safe.

Only at his second glance did he find Eileen amidst all the capsules as she was just checking the functionality of one of them and the vital signs of its inhabitant. For a split second their eyes met, but then she turned away and went to the next pod.

“Hey, Jim.”, Dr. McCoy greeted them, telling from his frown leaving Khan out on purpose, “They’re all fine and sound asleep. Where do you want to get them?”

“Wake ‘em up, Bones.”, Kirk replied and for a moment the doctor stared at him blankly before he opened his mouth to protest with all his might, “Are you…”

“No, Bones, I’m not out of my corn-fed mind.”, his captain replied with a smirk, “But, honestly, what else can we do? It’s the only reasonable thing.”

“Reasonable?”, McCoy echoed, albeit with a much higher pitch and disbelief in his voice than before, “Jim, your definition of “reasonable” isn’t really up to date, is it?”

“It is the only reasonable thing to do, Leonard.”, Eileen cut in, her voice and her body slumped down from clearly visible fatigue and worry, “There is nothing else you can do.”

“Really?”, McCoy now snapped at her and Khan had to fight the impulse to protect her, an irrational impulse, but strong nonetheless. And it was unnecessary, as Eileen was well capable of defending herself, although her words missed the edge they had had before: “Yes, Leonard. What do you want to do? Put them with a private clinic? Brilliant idea, they’ll just store them there for as long as they fancy and then sell them to the highest bidder or exploit them themselves right away. And you can’t suggest Starfleet as an option because it is clearly not! Plus, we don’t even have his pod and so what do you want to do with…him? Imprison him until we get hold of another pod? No. Or worse, condemn him to live alone? We should give them the chance to live, to learn from the mistakes they made before they were banished into cryo-sleep.”

McCoy stared at Eileen and Khan did not dare to interrupt for once, because he was moved by her unexpected plea for him and his crew. She did not know them, none of them, but she nevertheless pleaded on their behalf. He was as moved as he was confused by her, again.

“Ellie…”, McCoy began, but she violently shook her head, “No. Give them a chance. There has to be some planet somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It won’t be easy, no, but…worth it.”

The ship’s doctor seemed by no way convinced, but he turned his gaze to Kirk and gruffly added: “So, how do you want to do that? Even if I agreed to wake them, which I’m not sure of as of yet, they’ll have nothing on that planet we still have to dig up somewhere.”

“True.”, Kirk nodded and looked at Khan, “Even if we get you a planet, you will need some materials to start on.”

“That is no obstacle.”, he swiftly replied, “During our time we amassed a considerable amount of assets. And when I was working for Starfleet as John Harrison, I got a hold of these and transferred a good proportion to an account Starfleet has not traced to this day, as far as I know. On the way to this planet we will surely meet merchants and the credits I ensured shall be compensation for your efforts.”

“Nifty.”, Kirk smiled, “I’ll scan for your new home. And you, Bones, wake our guests.”

“I still don’t like it…”, Dr. McCoy chuntered, but Eileen gave him a smile and reassured him, “You don’t have to. But the sooner you deal with them, the sooner you can get rid of them. And who knows, they might even like you.”

Together the two physicians made their way over to one of the pods and Khan recognised it, but as much as he wanted to join them, to be the first to welcome Kati back after so many years and, admittedly, also to talk to Eileen who avoided him, he had to make sure that they had a home to go to first.

So he stole another glance at the pod containing Kati, then one at Eileen before he turned away and joined Kirk in the scan he was already running. So far, three planets had popped up, but Kirk manually discarded two of them again and as he saw Khan approach, he explained: “Too close to other settlements, wouldn’t do any good.”

He merely nodded and scanned the information the console produced when he suddenly spotted a planet that met his requirements.

“There.”, he declared just a moment before Kirk suggested, “How about this one?”

The Captain smiled and zoomed in on the planet that had caught both their gazes: “Ceti Alpha V. Class M, not inhabited, quite remote but not exactly too far off. It isn’t all that fertile, but…”

“It will suffice.”, Khan decided, leaving Kirk staring in astonishment before he shrugged, “Okay. So Ceti Alpha V it is.”

With a nod, Khan turned away and for a moment he allowed himself to smile. They had a home.

It was true, the planet was not the most hospitable one, but it was fertile enough and would nourish them sufficiently. What he had not told Kirk was that he had instantly recognised the planet’s coordinates. It was the very same planet he had had to make a forced landing on when the cruiser had been damaged and he had spent a few hours in the golden forest, repairing the damage together with Eileen. The planet would not only suffice, it was perfect.

“Alright, initiating reanimation sequence now.”, Eileen announced and Khan saw her type final commands into the console on Kati’s pod. A few eager paces took him to the capsule and he watched every single second of the process, clenching his fists in anticipation and…hope. A feeling he had refused for so long, but it had now instantly flushed his entire being when he saw the changes in Kati’s appearance.

For a second, fear mingled into his beginning joy and he glanced at the console, trying to interpret the readings of her vital signs.

“Relax.”, Eileen reassured him calmly without even looking at him, “She’s fine, it just takes a bit.”

He merely nodded and kept staring at Kati’s pale face, he did not even look up as he heard Kirk come over to stand beside Dr. McCoy, for he was only focused on Kati.

“That should do.”, the doctor gruffly estimated, “We can open the pod.”

Only after Eileen had nodded her assent did Khan calmly watch them take off the lid and a familiar chill wafted out, circled around his feet but then quickly dissipated.

As if all the cold had fled the pod, Khan registered small signs of life on Kati’s face, saw colour return to her cheeks and her eyelashes flutter as she tried to open her eyes. Involuntarily he held his breath and only released it when her eyes opened.

With a hearty sigh, he looked into those brown eyes again, although still weary, so full of life.

“Captain…”, she breathed and he nodded, “Kati.”

“What’s…”, she began a question, but was shushed by Eileen who gently touched her hand, “Hi, I’m Ellie. Please, calm down, the effects of your long cryo-sleep need time to wear off. But I assure you, you’re fine.”

Kati managed a small and indistinctive mumble, and as Eileen released her hand with a smile, Khan took it instead, warming the cool skin of his friend as he told her: “I will explain everything and answer all your questions later. There is so much I have to tell you. But for now, rest assured that we have a new home.”

She was weak, but the smile on her blueish lips told Khan everything he had to know; she was as relieved as he was.

“Vital signs fine…better than fine, actually.”, Dr. McCoy stated and then threw a suspicious look at Khan, “You’re awfully robust the lot of you, what did they feed you?”

He frowned, but as he saw Eileen grin and shake her head, he filed the doctor’s words as a joke and decided to ignore them. There were more pressing matters at hand.

“If they all handle it that well, we can get them awake in no time.”, McCoy added and Eileen suggested, “Then let’s move on. Who’s next?”

She addressed him with this question, but did not look at him. Khan did not have an answer anyway, so she proceeded to the pod standing next to her and repeated her previous actions. They all worked together; the two physicians took care of their patients’ wellbeing, while Khan them and reassured them, told them of their new home.

In this fashion they revived his crew, one by one, Otto, Rodriguez, and finally Joachim, they were all there and all well. McCoy and Eileen went rounds to attend to all of them, warm them up and provide them with food and drink. It was remarkable to see her work as every gesture, every little action came naturally to her.

Khan’s gaze fell on Otto who was holding a cup of tea in his hands and frantically looking around, eager to get up, but not yet strong enough and Eileen kept telling him to stay in his pod just a little longer. He knew the reason for Otto’s agitation all too well and Khan feared the moment in which he had to take all of his remaining strength away, but he could postpone the moment no longer, so he went to the friend.

“Captain!”, he was greeted with a warm smile, even though Otto was shaking from cold and worry, “Have you seen Ling?”

The pang in his heart was expected, but yet it hit hard. Taking a deep breath, Khan tried to find consoling words, but he knew that none he could ever find would suffice to reduce Otto’s pain.

“We were betrayed.”, he wearily said in lack of anything else, “The crew of this ship has vowed to help us, but one of Starfleet betrayed us and Ling…”

He choked on the words he had to force out and hesitated, but Otto had already understood.

“No…”, the friend whispered almost silently and sobbed quietly when Khan forced himself to tell him the truth, “She was murdered, Otto, but she was avenged.”

Not able to do anything more for his friend, Khan firmly grasped his hand, but it only gave rise to even more despair and Otto’s barely held composure finally yielded to tears.

From where she had come, he could not tell, but Eileen took the cup from Otto, gently forced it out of his hand and then silently took a hold of it, offering consolation to a stranger and without a word. Otto wept and squeezed Khan’s hand in an effort to remain in control, squeezed so hard it almost hurt and would surely have to hurt Eileen by now, but she did not complain, did not even flinch, but she had tears in her eyes, however, Khan was under the impression that they were tears for Otto and Ling.

“Forgive me.”, he choked out when his sobs had slowly calmed down, his voice raspy, but Khan replied, “There is nothing you have to ask forgiveness for, my friend, not you. We will never forget.”

Otto nodded grimly and then managed a sheepish smile as he let go of Eileen’s hand, accepting the mug from her again. She did not wait for Khan, but spun around and was off, busying herself with other members of his crew, but clearly avoiding him.

“I…would like to be alone.”, Otto requested and he nodded, “Tell me if you need anything and I will try my best.”

“I know.”, he managed a smile, and Khan left him. His heart had sunken and so his steps naturally led him to the one soul he knew who had always been able to cheer him up, yet at the same time discuss his ideas with him in all earnest and care, Joachim.

“Hey, Cap.”, his best friend greeted him, smirking as always, “Long time no see. You look older.”

Involuntarily he chuckled to himself and retorted, “So do you, cold has never suited you well.”

“All I have to do is look better than you.”, Joachim replied with a wink, “And we both know I’ll always do that.”

Together they laughed quietly until Joachim firmly grasped his shoulder and earnestly said from the bottom of his heart: “It is good to see you.”

“Indeed.”, Khan agreed, but then his voice faded away as he knew nothing to say.

“What troubles you so deeply that you can’t look me in the eye?”, Joachim jested and he found himself smiling again, but instead of an answer, he told his friend, “While I was alone, I knew I missed you all, but seeing you all again makes me realise just how much I missed you.”

“That’s nice and all…”, he retorted with a cheeky wink, “But that doesn’t answer my question, Cap, and you and I both know that you wanted to avoid answering it.”

“You are one of a kind.”, Khan mumbled impressed and shook his head, but Joachim simply shrugged and grinned, his green eyes sparkling with mischief. Before he could restrain himself from it, Khan’s gaze searched the room for a particular face and once he had spotted Eileen near Kati again, his eyes remained with her.

“Who is she?”, Joachim asked curiously and Khan, caught red-handed, stared at him just to see him smile at Eileen warmly, “I mean, Ellie too is one of a kind. And… I like her.”

To this he said nothing, but his gaze returned to Eileen and again he wondered why she acted the way she did, why she had risked her life for his crew…for him as she had told him just before she had kissed him. It still was an utter mystery to him.

“But I guess…”, Joachim softly and clearly with a smile added, “You like her much, much more.”

Surprised at the very thought Khan’s gaze briskly shot to his friend and Joachim laughed aloud, amicably mocking him: “Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t. I can see it in your eyes.”

“No…”, Khan muttered unconvinced, but his eyes again looked for Eileen.

“Whatever she did, Cap, she won you over. A long time ago.”, Joachim added calmly and with a sigh, Khan almost admitted defeat. There was a reason why Joachim had always been his best friend and second in command, he knew Khan best.

“Maybe…”, he then whispered, his eyes still on Eileen as he evasively admitted that she was more to him than he had ever anticipated.

“Sure…”, Joachim chuckled unconvinced but as Khan remained motionless beside him, he nudged him, “Come on, talk to her. We both know you want to.”

He glared at Joachim for that, but of course this did not impress him in the slightest. Even worse, he had to admit that he was right, he did want to talk to Eileen, understand her actions and why she avoided him so purposely now, but…

“She does not want to talk to me.”, he replied quietly, but Joachim merely shrugged, “Maybe she has a reason for that. And that doesn’t have to be an aversion.”

“I know.”, Khan sighed and squared his shoulders before he went over to Eileen.

“Go get her.”, he heard Joachim laugh to himself, but he ignored his merriment and went to Eileen, as soon as he had reached her, Khan said, “We need to talk.”

“Nope, we don’t.”, was her brisk answer she gave without even looking at him, instead she focused on a console of an already deactivated - and empty - pod.

“Alright then, I would like to talk.”, he tried to reason with her, but he could not keep a hint of impatience out of his voice and this strain grew as she carelessly, almost gruffly replied, “Well, sucks for you, mate.”

For a moment he was tempted to grab her arm and forcefully turn her around, to make her talk…but then he sighed wearily: “Eileen…”

Within an instant she froze and with a shaking breath she turned around. All the anger had vanished from her eyes and she looked nothing but exhausted to him.

“Alright…”, she muttered in defeat, “What do you want to know?”

Khan needed a moment to find words, but then he simply managed to ask one: “Why?”

She looked into his eyes, but then averted her gaze and without having to ask what exactly he had meant, she started to talk: “I haven’t exactly had many friends to stand up for me. All I ever achieved for myself was my parents’ okay so I could study medicine, but they thought it just a whim, something of a fancy before I had to marry a decent man anyway. And by “decent” they meant rich. Jack fitted their prospect perfectly and on my wedding day, they were proud of me. When we got divorced, they weren’t proud anymore. Neither was my brother who had been rooting for Jack the entire time and told me he hadn’t cheated on me, but that I had driven him to do it because…you know. No one, not even my family, wanted to see my side of things, so I left, joined Starfleet. I was alone, just studied and worked, I had colleagues, sure, but no close friends. I thought I didn’t need them…”

Unsure where she was going with this, Khan frowned, but did not interrupt her as she looked at him: “Then I heard about you, how you fought for your crew, how you went to such lengths, to such extremes when you thought them dead. I mean…you almost obliterated HQ in Frisco and it was, well, it wasn’t exactly a nice thing to do, but…you fought for those you love. It…impressed me.”

“They are my family.”, Khan replied for it was self-evident to him, but apparently not for Eileen, he gathered that much from her incredulous gaze.

“Yeah, so you keep saying. But “family” doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll risk their arses to get you out of trouble. For you it goes without saying, I’ve seen that many times over by now, but for me…I always hoped for that, but there was no one to fight for me when I needed them the most, no one to come back for me.”

She blinked furiously and wiped away tears of rage as they fell anyway.

“Eileen…”, Khan began as he understood that she had been alone for such a long time and did not only want company, but needed it desperately. Yet, out of lack of other possibilities, he raised his hand to grasp hers, but she slapped it away and glared at him: “And then, after I did not receive the help I was so desperate for, I thought I should help you, not only because it was the right thing to protect your crew, but also because I thought that maybe, just maybe I had to help before others considered helping me. And you…you thought I had sold you out! I wanted to help and I screwed up! Whatever I do, I screw up. So why should anyone ever help me…”

“You did perfectly on Hygia Station.”, Khan interrupted her and she stared at him, blinking in confusion, so she did not even jerk her hand away as he now tenderly took it, “You did so well that you fooled me as well along with all of them. I am the one who failed there, not you. I failed you. And…I am forever grateful for your help.”

“Oh please…”, she snorted, but he could see a smile tug at her lips, “I almost lost it when I saw Jack. And after Mr. Scott got us out and you were so angry I snapped. Sorry, I didn’t mean to…you know.”

Her voice trailed off and she tugged her hand free, turning away. Khan could not help it, he felt a pang of disappointment when she said she had not meant to kiss him. It had been raw, but that was exactly why it had felt so true and honest for him. Was he wrong?

“I’m…uh, I’m gonna check on…them.”, Eileen stepped out of their conversation and Khan let her go. He would have to ponder on her words, but he already felt understanding dawn upon him. Not only was she hurt, she was also afraid, What little hope she had left that someone would eventually stand up for her, fight on her behalf, she was already too scared to believe in it anymore.

He wanted to help, but for the moment he did not know how, he needed a plan first, any plan. He owed her this much.

Deciding to leave her to herself for now, he turned around to attend to his crew and caught a glimpse of Joachim who silently and reproachfully, albeit smiling, shook his head. He decided to ignore him.

 

A few days later, they had returned to Ceti Alpha V. His crew and the crew of the Enterprise had worked hand in hand and so within not even one hour, all their acquired equipment along with the newly painted U.S.S. Umbellion had been transferred to the planet’s surface. They were almost ready to build their new home from scratch.

The last few arrangements were made, so the time of their parting was imminent…yet Khan had found nothing to say to Eileen. He saw her talking to Joachim whilst they were transporting the medical equipment they had been given, saw them chat and smile. They had immediately gotten along very well, had been joking and mocking each other like old friends whenever Eileen thought Khan was not around, as she was still avoiding him, now more than ever perhaps.

But in this very moment, on the surface of Ceti Alpha V…she seemed saddened and worried by something she had not yet expressed to anyone, despite Dr. McCoy’s frequent questioning. Khan felt exactly as she looked, even though he had just acquired a planet for his crew, a home finally. Yet he was not happy, but worried, not relieved, but tense.

“Alright, that’s it, it’s all down now.”, Kirk’s cheery voice snapped Khan out of his thoughts. The Enterprise’s captain had taken it upon himself to supervise the transport of their goods and although Khan had at first suspected mistrust in the other man, he had by now seen that Kirk indeed also cared for this crew. He cared even more about his own crew and about the prospect that Khan’s would never come back to Earth to threaten its people anymore, but he could understand that.

“You’ve now got your own planet.”, Kirk addressed him and he nodded, “Make good use of it. And…if this whole thing goes sideways for one reason or another, don’t blame me, okay?”

Khan raised an eyebrow at this, but did not say what came to his mind first, but instead gave a more diplomatic answer: “We have sufficient equipment and a cruiser to help us acquire more should we be in need of it. Moreover, you have our gratitude for rendering all of this possible. You have nothing to fear.”

Kirk snorted and Khan was tempted to smile, but he did restrain from it when McCoy addressed his captain: “Jim, are we finished here?”

“Yeah.”, Kirk replied and turned to Khan, extending his hand, “Good luck.”

“Farewell.”, he said, accepted the man’s hand and shook it firmly, what made Kirk wince, something he had aimed at, but as he let go, Kirk said, “Maybe we’ll drop by just to check on you should we find ourselves in this neck of the woods.”

“By all means.”, Khan invited him, but looking into the other man’s face he knew they both knew these were formalities, not honest words and he was not surprised to see Kirk laugh, “Well, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I’d be heartbroken if we never meet again.”

“Likewise.”, Khan replied and Kirk chuckled, shaking his head, “If you were just a bit, let’s say…”

“Less savage?”, Khan offered dryly and with a wry grin, Kirk nodded, “Yeah, that. We would have gotten along quite nicely.”

“Perhaps.”, he admitted and nodded at Kirk again, a mutual understanding between them that they would both protect their crews no matter what and although their methods differed considerably, there was respect between them.

Dr. McCoy had nothing more to spare for him than a derogatory grimace and a reluctant, sharp nod of his head, a gesture which Khan returned, albeit with a scarcely hidden smile. The Enterprise’s doctor was not a complicated man and he was easy to play as soon as he had been seen through. He was a weak link, but that was not Khan’s problem.

What was very much his problem indeed came rushing back to him when McCoy turned away and Eileen reluctantly approached Khan. He still had no idea what to say to her. And apparently, she was no better off than him, because she awkwardly cleared her throat before she mumbled: “Well, I guess this is good-bye then…”

“Yes.”, he barely managed to reply and she nodded slowly, her lips pressed together so they were nothing more than a fine, white line. Her breath was shaky as she said: “Then…good luck with this, you all deserve another chance.”

So did she, but although he wanted to say it, he found himself unable to. Instead he asked: “What will you do?”

“Oh…”, she softly breathed, clearly surprised by his question, “I don’t know, actually. Leonard asked if I could help him in Med-Bay. So I guess I’ll stay onboard the Enterprise for now, but I’m not really cut out for Starfleet, not anymore. But for now Med-Bay is as good a place as any.”

Khan was sure that Dr. McCoy also had other, more personal reasons to ask Eileen’s assistance. Still he waited without a word, as did Eileen, who clearly wished for him to say something, but he still had no idea.

Behind her back, Joachim was wildly gesturing at him, urging him on, but Khan ignored him, even though he knew perfectly well that Joachim was right, he had to say something.

“Alright then…”, Eileen finally muttered, “There’ll surely be some colds on the Enterprise, I mean, she’s a big ship, five years in space, it’ll add up. Maybe a few injuries here and there, but at least it’s something to do.”

He nodded non-committingly, for she was right and she belonged with them, not with his crew, a crowd of people she did not know and did not fit in with. At least this was what Khan was trying to talk himself into.

“You lot don’t get sick, do you? So…”, Eileen then added with a sudden crooked smile and a trace of her strange humour, “Even if I…well, there wouldn’t be room for me anyways…”

She turned around without another word and Joachim glared at Khan, gesturing to strangle him violently. Which he deserved probably.

“Mr. Scott…”, Kirk began the command to beam them aboard the Enterprise again, but Khan finally found his speech again and called to Eileen, “I will make room.”

They all stared at him, most of all Joachim and Eileen, who whispered: “Beg your pardon?”

“I will make room for you.”, Khan repeated firmly, “If you want to stay here, there will always be a place for you.”

Eileen smiled insecurely, but it faded away as quickly as it had come and she averted her eyes, mumbling sadly: “This is your crew and I’m not one of them…”

“No.”, Khan affirmed, “Not yet. But you can be.”

She stared at him, mouth agape, but then muttered: “How? I don’t fit in, I’m not like you…”

“I don’t care about that.”, Khan interrupted and looked into her eyes, the familiar plethora of blue shades, willing her to understand what he could not say in front of everyone; he did not care about her origins, he cared about her.

She blinked a few times, then gasped in disbelief.

“Oh come on!”, Joachim called cheerily from the side, “You may not come from the same batch, but that doesn’t make you a misfit around here. First off, we’re all misfits, kind of. I mean, look at him. And I for one would be happy to have you here.”

Now Eileen chuckled while stealthily blinking away a tear and gave Joachim an amused shake of her head he answered with a shrug and a grin. As soon as Eileen turned her gaze from him, Joachim winked at Khan and mouthed: “Thank me later.”

That he would if he had actually talked Eileen around. And apparently he had, because she turned to McCoy and said: “I guess you’ll have to cope with your patients alone.”

“Ellie…”, the doctor furiously shook his head, but she gently put a hand on his arm and said, “I don’t belong with Starfleet, I never did and you know this. Send them the footage Mr. Scott gathered and never mention me again, they really don’t have to find me.”

“The footage of what happened at Hygia Station is already sent.”, Kirk chimed in, “They’d love to see you as a witness, but I for my part have never seen you again after that incident.”

“Jim!”, McCoy reprimanded him, but Eileen smiled, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”, Kirk replied, “Just…be sure you want this.”

His eyes darted to Khan for a split-second, but everyone had caught its meaning. So Eileen’s gaze as well wandered to him and she actually smiled before she answered Kirk: “I want this. But I’ll miss you all.”

“Take care.”, Kirk simply said, patted her on the back and then nodded at McCoy, but this nod was only kept short to throw Khan a threatening glance; should he dare to hurt Eileen, Kirk would learn of it and avenge her. It was a futile promise, but Khan nevertheless bowed his head in gratitude. Eileen had more people to fight for her than she realised.

“If you need anything, if…he’s a bastard after all…”, McCoy began and Eileen already smiled, but then hugged her friend and reassured him, “I’ll give you a call, understood. You worry too much, Leonard.”

He grumbled, but let her go and within the next second, they were gone, beamed aboard the Enterprise high above them in Ceti Alpha V’s orbit.

“What the hell was that?”, Eileen muttered, her back still turned at Khan and her voice muffled by tears. Saying nothing at first, he went to her and put his hands on her shoulders, giving them a firm squeeze as he told her: “A promise.”

She went rigid and spun around to him, her mouth opened to ask a question, but Khan was quicker: “You will always have a place here, you will always have friends…of some sort at least. If our company grows unbearable to you, I will personally see you to a nearby space station so you can make your own way from there or, should you not be willing to endure me any longer, I will send you with someone I trust. You may think that you do not fit in, and some of my crew might give you this feeling, but I will make room for you. I will fight for you as you fought for me. This I swear, Eileen.”

“You…”, she whispered as a smile tugged at her lips, “You just have to be insane.”

Now he openly smiled at her and shrugged: “Look who is talking.”

“Oi!”, she called out and laughed, shaking her head again, but then suddenly threw her arms around his neck.

“Thank you.”, she murmured and pulled back, but Khan did not let her go. Instead, he allowed her just enough room to look at him before he pressed his lips to hers.

He caught her off guard in a raw and demanding kiss, much as hers had been and even though he had surprised her, she soon found her composure again and returned his kiss with equal fierceness.  
When he broke away, he left Eileen breathless and muttered under his breath: “I will fight for you.”

With these words, he left her standing there to return to his crew and help start building their settlement. He did see Joachim’s cheering and knew that there would be no living with him after he had, in his opinion, persuaded Eileen to stay, so Khan ignored him for the moment.

Eileen, however, he could not ignore and neither did he want to when he heard her footsteps draw even with him and she linked her arm with his as she whispered: “There’s no need for this fight.”  
“Good.”, Khan growled possessively and together they joined the rest of his crew.

Some looked curiously at them, but Joachim smiled broadly. There was much work to do, but Khan was really looking forward to it, just one glance around showed him all those he cared about and finally they were all together, a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who bore with me.  
> I hope you had as much fun reading as I have had writing this story.


End file.
